Goodbye
by Sweet Executioner
Summary: Kirk's stepsister joined Starfleet and now she's working with Dr. McCoy on the USS Enterprise. / BonesxOC, now with ST Into Darkness
1. Goodbye

**UPDATE:** There was a little change/jump/partial retcon because of Star Trek Into Darkness. I'll finish and rewrite the beginning of the story some other time but for now I started some kind of a part 2 from chapter 13.

**Summary:** It's Kirk's last night in Iowa before he joins Starfleet. He has to tell his mother and stepfather the news, but the first person he talks to is his stepsister…

* * *

**Goodbye**

* * *

James T. Kirk had made a decision: he will join Starfleet. It was around four in the morning which meant he had four hours until departure. He was standing under a certain window of their house, wondering if she was awake or not. Sighing, he climbed up to the window and opened it without a problem.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" came a familiar voice from the bed as he landed on the floor. Jim only smirked at the reaction and turned on the lights. The girl who was sitting in her bed was only four years younger than him, with mid-length brown hair and light brown eyes. "God damn it, Tiberius, how many times I have to tell you to use the door?" she said angrily, trying to keep her voice down.

"And how many times I have to tell you to stop calling me Tiberius?" he asked with a shrug and sat on the edge of her bed. Isabella was his stepsister, the daughter of his 'beloved' stepfather. Beside his mother, she was the only person who didn't think he was only a troublemaker. "You have to help me, Doc," he said, pointing at his face.

"I'm not a doctor yet," Izzy said, letting out a tired sigh as she took a closer look at the injuries. "You're gonna be fine; I only have to clean the wounds and you're free to go," she told him with a smile before she stood up and disappeared in the bathroom for a while. "Feel like telling me what happened to you this time?"

Jim let out a quiet groan. "I got into a little fight with a few Starfleet recruits in a bar," he said as the girl started to wash off the blood from his face.

"Why I'm not surprised," she remarked sarcastically, grabbing the antiseptic. "Okay, I know you've already heard that from me before, but it's going to sting," she warned him, a sadistic smirk slowly appearing on her lips. He barely winced while she was cleaning the small wounds.

"I'll join Starfleet in the morning," he suddenly spoke up.

The girl's eyes grew wide in surprise. "You will what?"

He laughed quietly, already thinking about how his mother will react. "That's right. I talked to Captain Pike and… I don't know. He believes in me and said I can be a captain and have my own ship in eight years," he told her. "He also talked about my father. About the twelve minutes he'd spent as the captain of the USS Kelvin and how he'd saved 800 people - including me," he added, quieter this time.

"Hey, I'm sure your father would be proud of you," Izzy told him with a small smile, reassuringly putting her hand on his. "And Winona will be proud as well. By the way, when will you tell her?"

"In the morning; before I leave," he replied.

"You're just kidding, right?" she asked, punching his arm. "She deserves more than a few minutes in the morning. You'll be gone for years," she said firmly, jumping off the bed. "I'll wake her up and send her to the living room."

Jim took a deep breath and stood up as well. "What about your father?" he asked.

"Don't worry about him. This move of yours will shut him up for a while," the girl said with a smile. "Zip up your jacket," she added, pointing at his shirt. "Winona would be freaked out if she saw your bloody shirt."

He zipped his jacket and looked at her with a smile. "I'll miss you, Izzy," he said.

"I'll miss you, too, James. You're gonna be a great captain one day," she said before she hugged him. "Try not to get into trouble," she added with a small chuckle.

"I can't promise anything," Jim admitted as he let go of her. "You know, you should join Starfleet as a doctor," he said and left the room before she could answer.

"Maybe… one day," she whispered to herself before she walked to the bedroom of her father and Winona.

* * *

**Author's note:** Don't ask me how I came up with this. I honestly don't know. (I've never seen Star Trek before, but I watched the movie on Friday and I'm addicted. I think I'll watch it next week again.) Maybe - based on this one-shot - I'll write a story. Well, what do you think?


	2. Good idea, bad idea

* * *

(1) **Good idea, bad idea**

* * *

If you have to, by all means, wake up someone in the early morning, it's a...

Good idea to buy breakfast and coffee as an apology for waking them up, then waiting for the said person to invite you in. Bad idea to bang loudly on the door then start a conversation with a question, uncaring whether or not the other person is happy to see you.

"Do you have any plans for this summer?"

It was around eight in the morning on Sunday, and Izzy had just got home an hour before after a really long night shift at Starfleet Medical, so it was perfectly understandable why she was blinking at him with cloudy eyes. Actually, she was cursing Starfleet for the lack of old-school doors because all she wanted to do was to shut the door in his face. "Do you have any idea what time is it?" she asked slowly, leaning against the doorframe.

Jim quickly glanced at his watch before looking back at the brunette. "7:58. Why?" he asked innocently as Izzy narrowed her eyes to give him a serious look. The young captain let out a sigh and spoke up again. "So, back to my question: do you have any plans?"

Without answering his question, Izzy took a step back and pushed a button to close the door. It closed with a quiet hiss and the next thing she heard was Jim. "Izzy, please," he called from the other side. At first, she simply wanted to ignore him, but quickly changed her mind and reopened the door. "Okay, sorry for waking you up," he said, giving her an apologizing look.

"Come in, you idiot," she muttered angrily, stepping aside so he could go in. "Why do you want to know if I have any plans for the summer?"

"Because I think I know where you'll spend the next three months," he replied, sitting on the couch. Izzy gave him a questioning look as she sat on an armchair opposite of him. "On the USS Enterprise."

It took her a few long seconds to process this small amount of information. Three months aboard the USS Enterprise. "I don't think it would be the best idea for me to spend the summer off-planet. Not now at least," she told him plainly.

"What difference would it make if you spent every day at the hospital, working sixteen hours a day? You should grab this chance and work on Starfleet's flagship. Others would kill for this opportunity," he added with a playful smile, but she didn't say anything. "Nothing will happen to her, okay?"

"How do you know?"

"Look, call your father and ask his opinion. He hates me but still, he would say the exact same thing."

Izzy let out a long sigh, put her legs on the coffee table and leaned back in the chair. She knew he was right. Not to mention she would work with the famous Dr. Leonard McCoy. "Alright, get out of here and let me sleep," she said slightly turning to her side.

"Is that a yes?" he asked as he stood up. She let out a quiet '_mhm_' sound, so he nodded and left, finally letting her sleep.

* * *

A few days had passed since his conversation with Izzy. Now they were aboard the Enterprise, and surprisingly the young woman could manage to avoid Bones so far. The ship's chief medical officer was standing on the bridge beside Jim - who was talking about how Izzy will make his life miserable - waiting for departure. Bones' head was, of course, full with those terrible diseases they could catch in space and his aviaphobia so he only heard every second word.

"Are you finished?" he asked impatiently, looking down at the captain. He looked up at him with a mischievous smirk. "Look, I understand that you're excited and everything, but you're the captain of the USS Enterprise. There are plenty of things you should do instead of talking about someone, who will spend a really long time aboard," he said in a tired voice. "Not to mention, Sulu's only waiting for your orders," he added, looking over at the helmsman.

"Take us out, Mr. Sulu" Jim told him, looking back at the doctor. He stood up and sympathetically patted the shoulder of his friend. "Oh, I know the only reason why you're not happy about her arrival is that she will follow you around all the time," he said, faking a painful expression. The arrival of Dr. Krause meant Bones will have a duckling from now on. Someone, who will follow him wherever he goes - he had already found it tiresome. "But trust me; she'll do everything to make you happy," Jim added.

The doctor's eyes grew wide in surprise - and shock. The way Jim told him that made his mind work, and his imagination was about to get out of control. He quickly shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. "How do you mean it?"

"You'll see Bones," was all he said with a smirk, in a tone that made it obvious: he was testing his friend's patience.

"Just tell me, dammit," Bones demanded, trying hard not to yell at the captain. "Is it really that hard for you to speak like…" he started but was interrupted by a well-known voice.

"This way," they heard Spock's polite speech from a door.

Their gaze quickly shifted to the door. There he was, the pointy-eared bastard as Bones usually called him, and a young woman he identified as the new doctor. She was already wearing her blue uniform and her shoulder-length brown hair was pulled into a messy ponytail. "Thank you," the woman replied politely in a cheerful voice. She was smiling brightly at the first officer and that was something Bones just couldn't understand.

"Come on, Bones, she won't bite you," Jim told him quietly as they were getting closer.

"You know that's funny; someone said the same thing about my ex-wife," he replied sarcastically. The captain gave him a disapproving look that could be also translated as 'it's not like you're gonna marry her'. He took a deep breath and extended his right hand when they stopped in front of them. "I am sure you are the new resident," Bones told her as she shook his hand, while Kirk talked to Spock. "My name is Dr. Leonard McCoy and I am the chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise. You will be working with me in the next three months," he said flatly.

"I am Dr. Isabella Krause. It is a pleasure to meet _and_ work with you, sir," she said keenly, biting her lower lip so she won't smile like a total idiot.

Spock excused himself and walked away, leaving the trio alone. Izzy was too busy observing Bones' brownish-green eyes and she didn't realize her stepbrother started to circle around them. "Fangirl," Jim suddenly whispered derisively to her from behind.

"Shut up, Tiberius," she hissed as she jumped a little. The doctor's gaze shifted to Jim when the woman turned around to face the captain. "You scared me," she stated.

"You haven't changed, Scaredy Cat," the captain said, smiling down at her. Bones rolled his eyes in the background, searching for something to occupy himself. Jim put a hand on the woman's back and led her out to the corridor which was less crowded. "How's your mother?" he asked, once the doors closed behind them.

A sad smile appeared on Izzy's lips. "She's gonna be fine. At least I hope there won't be any problem. Dad promised he will call me if something happens," she said, casually leaning against a wall. "By the way, dad told me to tell you that he's proud of you," she added suddenly.

"What?"

"You heard me," Izzy nodded, letting out a quiet chuckle. "He's also proud and he finally accepted the fact that, after all, you are good for something. He just... You know, didn't want to get all mushy when you talked to them. Surprising, isn't it?" she asked, smoothing out a non-existent wrinkle on her dress.

Jim's steel blue eyes were fixed on her light brown ones. "Yeah, that's surprising," he agreed with a mischievous smile on his lips. "You've only made up the last part, haven't you?" he asked, though he knew the answer. Izzy nodded, flashing a sheepish smile at him as she massaged the back of her neck.

"I really don't want to destroy this family moment, kids, but you'll have plenty of time to talk later," Bones walked up to them, then he turned to Izzy. "We should go to the medical bay. I'll show you everything there, so you won't get lost in the future," he said. "I hope," he added after a short pause.

"Alright." The brunette's gaze shifted from Bones to the blond captain and she gave him an almost scared look.

Bones noticed it, and he quickly shook his head. "Don't worry; I'll go easy on you. We don't want to scare you away, do we?" he asked with a small laugh. "Come on," he said and walked towards the sickbay with Izzy, leaving a smiling Kirk behind.

"You two seem to be really close," Bones suddenly spoke up as they were heading towards the sickbay. Izzy looked up at him, chuckling quietly, but remained silent. There were so many stories she could have told him. "Am I wrong?" he asked curiously after a short pause.

The brunette shook her head in response, thinking about what to say. "No, you are absolutely right, _doctor_," was all she said in the end, emphasizing the word, doctor. They entered the intensive care unit which was empty at the moment. Izzy was about to make a comment, when they heard a cheerful voice.

"Good morning," said a young woman with long, blond hair. "You must be our new resident," she added, extending a hand. "I'm Christine Chapel."

"Isabella Krause," she replied with a smile, shaking her hand.

The nurse chuckled. "I hope you can stop him acting like a grumpy old man," she said, earning a questioning look from Izzy and a threatening one from Bones. "Alright, I got it. We'll continue this later," she said and waltzed out of ICU.

Slowly shaking his head and massaging the bridge of his nose, Bones broke the silence. "Nurse Chapel is kind of my right hand. She's really good in her job, so you don't have to worry about her behavior," he said. "By the way, you can call me Bones," he told her casually with a small smile, sitting on one of the beds. Since she was Jim's stepsister, he hoped they can leave formalities.

She gave him a curious look as she sat on the other end of the bed, a strange smile playing on her lips. She had already heard that sentence before. "What about Leonard?" she asked matter-of-factly, looking in his eyes again. She still couldn't decide what color his eyes were exactly. The only thing she knew for sure was that she was addicted to them.

"Just call me Bones, Isabella," he said reassuringly, hoping it won't be a problem for her to use his nickname. The other doctors and the nurses on the ship rarely called him Bones since he'd become the chief medical officer on the USS Enterprise.

"No, thank you, Leonard is really good," she said cheerfully. "And please, call me Izzy," she added.

Bones took a deep breath, keeping eye contact with her. "Alright, I'll call you Izzy if you'll call me Bones," he stated.

"Oh, come on," she laughed, subconsciously putting her hand on his. When she realized her mistake, she immediately pulled it away with an apologetic look on her face.

For a short second, he was thinking about reaching for her hand, but decided against it. "No, no. Think about it: if there is, for example, a medical emergency and you have to shout my name… well… Leonard is too long," Bones explained, smiling friendly at her.

"You're right. Still…" she started, but Bones interrupted her.

"No 'still', dammit," he said angrily. "You're acting like Jim and that's really annoying, you know." Blood froze in Izzy's veins by his harsh reaction. James had warned her about the doctor's passionate personality but that wasn't what she'd expected. Dirty thoughts appeared in her mind and she had to bit her lower lip not to say or do something that would destroy her career in an instant.

Shaking her head, Izzy shrugged in response. "What can I say? We grew up together. But fine, I'll call you Bones if that's what makes you happy," she said quickly. Bones nodded and put a small scanner in front of her. "Is that mine?" she asked, picking it up.

"Yes. I want you to take it everywhere you go," he ordered, giving her another device. "Also, here's a PADD in case you need to see a patient's medical files." Bones watched as her face lit up like a Christmas tree, and this made him smile, too. Unlike Jim, she was serious when it came to her job, and he appreciated it.

"Is there anything else I have to know?" she asked eagerly.

The doctor looked around in the ICU and thought for a moment. "Well, I think you already know the rest of the medical equipment," Bones started and she nodded. "This room is the ICU, then there is a surgical facility and there are a couple of other places you'll find easily. Oh, and the chief medical officer's office is located in the medical bay as well," he said.

"Okay, I think I got it," Izzy chirped happily than hesitated. "Erm," she started slowly. "Can I ask you a question?" Bones nodded without thinking. "Why did you join Starfleet, if you have aviaphobia?" she asked, trying to hold back a smile.

Bones' eyes darkened as he looked at the young doctor. "Jim told you," he stated.

"Of course he did," she replied casually with a shrug. "When you two met on that shuttle, the first thing you told him was something like 'I may throw up on you'. That's niiiice," she said, laughing at him.

"Hey, aviaphobia is not funny. Stop laughing," he warned her.

"I know it's not funny," she said calmly. "Every man on Earth love to act like they are not afraid of anything. And, you know, if you meet one who admits that he has a phobia then it's…"

"Ridiculous."

"No, it's kind of cute," she said.

"Cute?"

"Yes."

"So you really think a man who admits that, for example, he's afraid of dying in something that flies is cute?" Bones asked in disbelief.

"Yes," she nodded with a bright smile on her face.

"You're strange. I thought women like men who are not afraid of anything."

"That's a stupid stereotype. Prince Charming is a handsome guy with blond hair, blue eyes, he's brave, strong, romantic and faithful, and yes, he has a white horse," she started to explain. "Look at James, for example. Handsome? Check. Blond hair? Check. Blue eyes? Check. Brave and strong? Check. Romantic and faithful? He's not even close, since he's a real womanizer. This goes for almost all the Prince Charming-looking guys in the world. No one's perfect," Izzy finished her little speech and let out a long sigh.

"Wow," was all Bones managed to say, looking in her light brown eyes. It had been a while since he'd last heard a woman speak so honestly. "Now that I heard it like that… I have to admit you might be right," he said.

Izzy chuckled nervously, massaging the back of her neck like she always did when she was nervous. That was a really bad habit of hers. "Well… of course I'm right," she said. "Hey, don't you wanna have breakfast with me tomorrow? I was about to ask James and Spock if they would like to join me."

After a short pause - while he was thinking about the chances that the green-blooded hobgoblin won't be present - he replied. "Sounds good," was all he said. Izzy nodded happily and, since she had nothing to do, left to find Nurse Chapel. Bones let out a long, tired sigh as he laid back on the bed with his arms behind his head, trying to sleep for a few minutes. "Why do I have the feeling that she'll be the cause of my death one day?" he asked quietly from himself.

* * *

**Author's note:** The new title comes from Animaniacs. God, I loved that show! About the three months thing: I want to turn their (Bones and Izzy) relationship into something... else. Well, they'll get together, then she'll go back to Earth while Bones will stay on the Enterprise for the five years mission. And after that? Hahaha. You'll see. Oh, and one more thing: Christine, I think, is around 25 or something, so that's why she's acting like that. (I think the Spock/Christine fans will be happy :P)


	3. James, Spock and breakfast

* * *

(2) **James, Spock and breakfast**

* * *

"Morning, Captain," Izzy greeted him with a yawn as she opened the door. "What are you doing here? It's quite early," she added, letting him in.

Jim entered and tousled her already messy hair playfully. He wore a black shirt, similar to the one he'd worn on his first day on the USS Enterprise. "Good morning, Isabella. Well, I couldn't sleep and I thought you could use some company," he told her with a huge grin on his face. This was a very old - and odd - tradition of his. Every time he woke up before Izzy, he went to her room to wake her up - if he couldn't sleep, she couldn't sleep either. Evil, he knew.

"Alright, make yourself at home. I'll be right back," she said, disappearing in the bathroom. Jim went to the bedroom, jumped on the bed and lay back. "I hope my bed is comfortable enough for you," she called from the bathroom.

"Yes, it's perfect. Thanks for the question," Jim called back, smiling in himself.

After a few minutes, Izzy went to the bedroom and sat on the bed beside the captain. "Get your boots off my bed. You don't want me to help you," she added menacingly. She had warned him about that a couple of times when they'd been back on Earth. 'If you don't get your shoes off my bed, I'll cut your legs down.' Or something like that.

"Alright, I got it. Don't need to be so grumpy," he said, repositioning himself so now he lay across the bed and used the woman's legs as a pillow.

"I'm not a morning person," she stated dryly, looking down at him.

Jim snorted in agreement as he looked up at the young doctor. "I talked to Bones," he said casually, changing the topic. Izzy let out a quiet, questioning sound. "He's happy that you're serious when it comes to your job. He appreciates it," he started slowly. "And he calls you Izzy and talks about you like he has known you for years."

"Is that a problem?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not at all, fangirl," he replied, laughing. "But he told me something about Prince Charming, women and me. Do you have any ideas what he was talking about?" he asked suspiciously, reaching for her right hand that lay beside his shoulder.

Izzy inhaled sharply. "Sorry, I don't have even the slightest idea," she lied and ran her free hand through her hair.

"You know," he stated, with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Yes."

"And you won't tell me," he said more to himself than Izzy. He stayed quiet for a second than his eyes widened in surprise and his mischievous smile transformed into a vicious one. "Does this story have a dirty part you two don't want me to know about?" he asked.

"God, James, no!" she protested. "I asked him about his aviaphobia that - by the way - is really cute, and he… well, he didn't believe me," Izzy explained.

Jim's steel blue eyes observed her face. "Okay, but what does his aviaphobia have to do with women, Prince Charming and me?" he asked curiously.

"I was talking about stereotypes and brought you up as an example for Prince Charming," she said.

"Really?" he asked, smiling proudly at her. "I like it."

Izzy shrugged. "No one's perfect, James. That was the point," she said and let out a long sigh. She freed her hand from Jim's grip and put it on his neck, brushing her thumb over his jaw line. "By the way, why did you want _me_ to come here for these three months?"

"Because I wanted to make sure, that the residents won't get on Bones' nerves in the future. You grew up with me so sometimes you're a lot like me," he started and watched as Izzy mouthed 'annoying' to him. "Then don't forget why I'm calling you fangirl. See? If someone, then you can drive him crazy."

Ignoring what he said, she changed the topic. "What time is it?" she asked.

The young captain thought for a second. "Almost time for breakfast. I have to go back to my quarter and change," he said as he stood up. "See you later?"

"Yeah, at breakfast," she replied with a small smile.

Jim left the room but came back a few moments later. "Izzy," he started, earning a questioning sound from the woman. He bit his lower lip before he spoke up. "Never mind," he replied quietly, and finally left her quarter.

A few minutes after Jim left her room, Izzy changed into her blue uniform and headed towards the mess hall. On the hallway, she met Spock who had accepted her invitation. "Good morning, Mr. Spock," she greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Dr. Krause," he said with his hands behind his back. "How did you sleep?" he asked, looking at the doctor.

"Very well, thank you," she replied happily right before she yawned. One of her hands was in front of her mouth, while the other one was stretched upward. "And what about you?" she asked.

The Vulcan arched an eyebrow. "I slept quite well, thank you, but you seem tired, doctor."

"Human body can be really tricky," she said and shrugged. "Even if you sleep very well at night, the next day you will definitely look and feel tired. My body is screaming for more sleep," she added after a short pause, rolling her eyes when she had to suppress another yawn.

Meanwhile they reached the mess hall and agreed to wait for the others with the food, so they sat to an empty table and waited. Izzy watched Chekov with a small smile as he was explaining something to Scotty with great enthusiasm at a nearby table.

Spock seemed to be thinking about something and the doctor jumped a little when he suddenly spoke up. "Did you and the captain grow up together?" he asked. Izzy gave him a questioning look at first, then nodded, waiting for him to go on. "I have been thinking about this since I first met you yesterday and I still can't find a logical answer for this question. You, Dr. Krause, seem to be someone who follows the rules. Then how…" he started, but for the first time in his life, he just couldn't find the right words. James Kirk was the captain of the USS Enterprise and he was also his friend.

"How did he become such a troublemaker?" Izzy asked, her eyes reflecting sadness. Spock nodded. "I'm sure it has something to do with the loss of his father. And… Well… I'm also sure that his relationship with my father didn't help either. I'm not exaggerating if I say they hated each other," she said.

"May I ask why you are so sure about that?" he asked her.

The brunette ran a hand through her hair and let out a long, tired sigh. "My father married Winona when James was only five. He didn't like my father, but they both thought it was only the reaction of a little kid who never lived with anyone but his mother, so they didn't take him seriously. Maybe they were right - at first. Then, three or four years later, Winona was often off-planet. These days James tried to drive my father crazy, trying to make him leave Winona. He did insane things, like driving my father's 1965 Corvette off a cliff."

Spock didn't say anything, only nodded. He had the feeling that their childhood was something Dr. Krause didn't like to talk about. Seconds later, Jim and Dr. McCoy appeared in the mess hall and walked up to their table, saying 'good morning' in unison. "Good morning, captain. Doctor," he greeted them.

"Morning, Bones," Izzy chirped, then turned to Jim who sat beside her. "Hi," she said simply.

"You seem tired," Bones informed Izzy who only rolled her eyes in response. "I'm serious Izzy. If you can't sleep I can give you…" he started but was interrupted by the girl.

"Don't worry, I can sleep," she assured him. "Usually. But this morning _someone _woke me up," she added, pointing at the captain beside her.

Jim put up his hands defensively. "Hey, don't blame me."

"Oh, then who should I blame?" she asked curiously.

"Blame Bones," Jim replied simply.

"Leave me out of this, Jim," the doctor stated firmly. Bones felt sorry for Izzy since he knew how annoying Jim could be sometimes. Waking others up in the early morning was a very evil thing - and it was also unhealthy. Not to mention if the victim was a doctor who's supposed to help others in the rest of the day. "Hey, Jim, I forgot to ask you this yesterday, but why did you call Izzy fangirl?" he asked.

The young woman slightly tilted her head to one side. "You seriously don't know why James called me fangirl?" she asked incredulously and Bones shook his head in response. "Then you don't remember…"

"I don't remember… what?"

"It happened about a week or two before. You know, when you returned to Earth after destroying the Narada. A doctor, your coffee… Do these things remind you of something?"

* * *

_It had been a really long day for him, and he was happy it was finally over. After quickly changing into jeans, a shirt and a leather jacket, he got himself some caffeine. He was walking down the hallway with a cup of coffee in his hand, concentrating on not spilling the hot liquid. Then suddenly he bumped into someone and the content of the cup landed on the said person. _

"_Damn it!" he muttered under his breath, giving an apologizing look to the woman. "I'm sorry, I should have watched where I was going," Bones said, searching for a clean tissue in his pockets._

_The young woman shook her head with a smile, laughing quietly. Her light brown eyes were observing him curiously. "No, no, it doesn't matter," she said friendly. "I will change into another one," she added quickly._

_Suddenly he realized she was wearing dark blue scrubs, the shade what was usually worn by doctors. "Are you a doctor?" he asked, though he didn't really want to ask her since it was quite obvious._

_She laughed again and took a look at the pass what was hanging from her pants. "Yeah, it seems like I am," she replied with a nod, extending a hand. "Izzy," she introduced herself._

"_Bones," he replied as he shook her hand._

"_Bones? Is that a real name?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. _

_Shrugging, he threw the plastic cup into a nearby bin. "Actually it's Leonard," he started and a smirk appeared on his lips. "But Bones sounds better."_

"_That's true," Izzy replied with a quiet chuckle before her eyes grew wide. "Wait," she said seriously. "Aren't you Dr. Leonard McCoy? The one who took out that Centaurian slug from Captain Pike's brain?" she asked in disbelief, biting her lower lip at the end of the question._

"_Yeah, that would be me," he said quietly before he yawned from tiredness. _

"_Jesus, you are a real genius! Seriously, taking it out without causing serious damage in the central nervous system is… just… brilliant!" she stated excitedly. _

"_It wasn't such a big thing."_

"_Are you kidding me?" Bones was about to answer, when her beeper went off. "Well, I have to go. But it was really nice to meet you, Dr. McCoy. Bye," she said as she turned and walked away._

"_Call me Bones. And sorry for the coffee thing," he called after her. She raised a hand in response before stepping into the elevator. He stood there for a few seconds with a smirk on his lips, realizing now he had at least one fan, then went to get another coffee for himself._

* * *

Bones blinked a few times before speaking up. "That was you?!"

"Yeah," she replied, scratching the back of her neck. "I made a complete fool of myself, I know," she added with a nervous giggle.

Minutes passed with Izzy and Jim arguing about random things. Like who had more annoying habits and stuff. Spock tried to ignore them, while Bones was about to shout at them. They were acting like small kids in a candy store when there was a ninety-nine percent sale. '_Ridiculous_,' he thought. Then they suddenly stopped.

He looked at them and saw Chapel and Uhura approaching their table. So that was the reason why they had stopped. The girls greeted everyone, and while Uhura sat beside Spock, Christine occupied the empty spot beside Izzy. "Have you eaten?" the nurse asked, flashing a bright smile at Bones.

"Not yet," he replied dryly.

Jim forced back a smile as he leaned closer to Izzy and whispered something in her ear. She briefly looked at Bones and had to bit her lower lip not to laugh. The captain noticed the doctor's questioning look so he flashed a childish grin at him. "What you are doing right now is unbelievably childish, _captain_," Uhura stated, emphasizing the word, captain, just like she had done during his third attempt to complete the Kobayashi Maru test.

"And it's also quite unprofessional, captain," Spock added, earning an agreeing nod from Uhura. "As the captain of this ship you should encourage the crew, but with this behavior-"

"I'll encourage Bones later with a bottle of Kentucky bourbon," he quickly retorted with knowing smile, his gaze shifting to Bones who only rolled his eyes in response. Jim was about to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of his communicator.

"Captain, we'll arrive in ten minutes," Sulu announced through the device.

"Got it. We're on our way," he replied and turned to Uhura and Spock who nodded and stood up. "Well, we have to go. If you feel like it, you might as well join us on the bridge," he said, then left with the others.

Christine let out a dreamy sigh as she watched Spock walking out of the mess hall, while Bones looked at Izzy and spoke up. "Are you hungry?" he asked, only asking her because he knew the nurse was busy daydreaming about the first officer.

"Are you kidding me? We'll arrive to a yet unknown planet in a few minutes," she told him excitedly. "Let's go to the bridge." Bones sighed but stood up, told something to Christine, and followed the other doctor. He hated space. He hated unknown planets. And something told him he should stay away from that certain planet.

Well… he didn't have much choice.

* * *

**Author's note:** I'm sure most of you remember my plan to make it a Bones/Izzy/Jim story. Yeah, well, even though I liked (and still like) the idea of this relationship between stepsiblings thing, I didn't use it because it would have been too much. But at the time I was writing this chapter, I still didn't know what to do, so when Jim turned back from the door and said 'never mind' in the end... well... that was a hint. I mean, at first I wanted to write a small conversation where he tells her how he feels about the thing Bones said about her. A little jealousy - even though they wouldn't have been in love.


	4. Witchcraft

* * *

(3) **Witchcraft**

* * *

Spock decided to stay on the ship, so Jim, Scotty, Bones and Izzy were the ones who beamed down to the planet. They landed close to a small, medieval-like town. It reminded them - especially Scotty - of the English countryside. Even the weather seemed to be a lot like Britain's.

"I love this place," Scotty stated for about the hundredth time with a huge, idiotic grin on his face. In the last few minutes all he'd done was spinning around and admiring the beauty of the scenery.

Jim walked up to him and patted his shoulder. "Okay, Scotty, we know you love this place," he told him, smiling sympathetically at the engineer. "I think we should go and see that town over there," he continued, turning Scotty in the direction of the town.

"Okay, captain," he quickly replied, nervously scratching the back his neck. Izzy chuckled quietly in the background, while Bones only rolled his eyes as they started to walk on the road.

The town was quite small, and it really looked like the ones in the Middle Ages back on Earth. The houses were built of wood and stone, and beside the wide main road, there were only narrow and dark alleys. People gave them odd looks, obviously wondering who they were and why were they wearing these strange clothes.

Izzy cleared her throat. "I think my uniform is… really… inappropriate," she said quietly. She was right: the bottom of the dress was too short for a society like this one, where women wore ankle length dresses. Bones glanced over at her for a second, a small smirk appearing in the corner of his lips.

"Do you want to go back?" Jim turned to her with a questioning look on his face.

"No," she replied quickly. "It's just awkward, that's all," she added and stopped.

They were standing in the middle of a square, surrounded by the residents of the town and the sound of harsh whispering. "Now what?" Bones asked Jim in a 'you're the captain, do something' tone.

Taking a deep breath, Jim thought for a second. He was about to speak up, when a man from the crowd broke the silence. "Welcome to the town of Nardan," he said with a bow, taking a few steps forward. He was probably in his forties, and his short hair was turning grey. "I am Randolf Millard, the librarian of this town."

Jim stepped forward as well. "I am Captain James Kirk," he introduced himself. "And they are Dr. Isabella Krause, Dr. Leonard McCoy and Montgomery Scott," he went on, introducing the others. "We would like to learn about this planet if it is possible. Maybe could help us."

"Please, follow me," he said with a faint smile. They followed him without a word, and after a short walk, they stopped in front of a house. "This is my house. I think we should talk in here, without everyone staring at you," Randolf said as he opened the door.

"Thank you," Izzy told him kindly, and entered the house with the others.

They sat around a table, and the little team explained the librarian what were they doing on the planet; trying not to tell him too much. "That must be very interesting," he said, amazed by what he'd just heard from the strangers. "What do you want to know about Nardan exactly?"

"I saw a huge cross in the middle of the main square," Izzy spoke up. "I assume religion is playing a very important part in your life."

The librarian nodded. "That is true. An epidemic occurred in our town and we don't know how to stop it. People think God sent this disease as a punishment for our sins," he explained. He didn't sound like someone, who believed everything he heard in the church.

Bones' eyes lit up when he heard a certain key word. "So you say there is an epidemic?" he asked the old man who nodded in response. He was the only one who hadn't spoken yet - he wasn't particularly interested in the conversation. He wanted to go for a walk in the town. "What are the symptoms?"

"Well…the infected ones are suffering from tiredness, high fever, aching muscles, headache and reddened skin," he said, thinking for a moment. "And it appears so suddenly… Do you know what it is?" he asked.

"Sounds like some kind of a flu," Izzy said quietly, turning to Bones.

"That's right, doctor," Bones replied with a smile.

Randolf's eyes were full with hope when he looked at Bones. "Does it mean you can help us?" he asked eagerly. The doctor nodded and was about to explain him what flu was, when the door slammed open and a teenage boy entered the house. His facial expression made it obvious that he was in pain. "Georg, you got into a fight again?" the librarian demanded.

The boy, Georg, nodded. "Yes, father. And something happened to my left shoulder this time," he added, and noticed the strangers in the house. "Who are they?"

"Travelers," he replied quickly.

Bones said something to Izzy, who walked to the boy and waved her scanner in front of the boy's shoulder. "Diagnosis?" he asked, now standing beside her.

"It's just a dislocated shoulder," Izzy replied as she took a look at the PADD's screen. "We only have to give him some painkillers and relocate it," she added.

"Correct," he nodded and handed her a hypospray.

Jim let out a strange sound. "I hate that thing," he stated quietly, remembering how Bones had taken him up to the Enterprise.

"Now who's the Scaredy Cat?" Izzy muttered in a sing-song tone with a smile on her lips as she injected the painkillers. The boy winced. "Sorry. Bones, would you relocate his shoulder?" she turned to look at him.

"Why? You don't know how to do it?" he asked.

Izzy gave him an almost apologetic look. "I've never done this before and I've only seen someone doing it once," she admitted. Bones shook his head with an understanding smile, and asked her to step aside and watch.

"I think I'll throw up," Scotty suddenly stated from the other end of the room. Everyone turned to him with a questioning look. "I saw someone relocating the shoulder of a friend of mine. I don't like these things. That's why I became an engineer," he said.

"Then don't look," Jim said simply, joining him in the other end of the room.

Bones and Izzy started to relocate the boy's shoulder. No one noticed the old woman who watched them trough the window until they'd finished the procedure. She had no idea what she'd seen, and her first thought was witchcraft. She knew what she had to do.

* * *

About fifteen minutes after they'd fixed Georg's shoulder, a young boy stormed into the house, breathing heavily from running. "The soldiers," he started. "They are coming." His bright green eyes were full with fear.

The old librarian stood up, his gaze shifting back and forth between the boy and the strangers. "Why?" he asked.

"Mrs. Forney told them about the strangers who came to Nardan. She saw something through your window and now she thinks you are hiding a witch and a wizard," he finished, staring at Izzy - or more likely her unusual clothes.

"Thank you for warning us, David," Randolf told him, turning around to face his guests. "I think you should leave the town now. I'll show you the way," he said. Jim nodded and looked at the others for a second.

"Father, I will go with them," Georg sat up in the bed.

Randolf shook his head. "You have to rest, son," he stated firmly. "Follow me," he said and headed toward the back of the house. The team followed him, leaving the house through the back door. The librarian led them out of the town, and even when they reached the borders, they could still hear the voices of the soldiers.

And they heard something else, too. And the source of this noise came from really close. "Maybe I'm a bit paranoid," Scotty started, slowing down, "but did you hear that?" he asked and everyone froze in place.

"Yeah, and it didn't sound good," Bones replied, running a hand through his hair. "Shouldn't we, I don't know, hurry up?" he asked, turning to Jim with a questioning look.

"You're right," the captain replied, looking at Randolf. "Don't tell anyone about what you're going to see," he said, pulling out his communicator. "Enterprise, it's Kirk. Beam us up," he ordered.

"Something is disturbing the signal, captain; I can't beam you up. You should try to find an area a bit farther from your current position," a female voice told him through the communicator. "Chekov is trying to solve the problem at the moment, but he'll need a few minutes."

Jim let out a tired sigh. "Alright, let's go," he said as he started to walk.

All they heard a moment later was a loud scream and when they turned around, they saw the librarian collapsing on the ground. There was a soldier standing above him, blood dripping from the end of his sword. He didn't say anything. Scotty, Bones and Izzy instinctively took a few steps back. Jim, on the other hand, attacked the soldier and after few minutes, he could knock him out.

Bones and Izzy ran to the librarian, quickly examining his wound. "Guys?" Jim asked.

"It's pretty bad," Bones stated as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"I hate to say that, but we should go. The soldiers will find him," the captain replied.

"Damn it, Jim! If we don't stop the bleeding, he'll die," he stated angrily.

"We can't stay here, Bones. The soldiers will be here in a few minutes and I don't want to get into a fight with them."

Bones looked up at him angrily and bit his lower lip. "I have an idea. You guys will go back to the Enterprise now, give me a few more minutes to fix his injuries so he won't bleed to death, and then I'll move away from here, and you can beam me up," he said quickly, turning his attention back to the wound.

"That's a good idea," Izzy said.

"You're going, too," Bones replied.

"What? No way, Bones, I'll stay."

"I said no, and that's an order."

Jim let out a loud groan. "Well, sorry to break this to you, Bones," he started, "but I'm the captain of the USS Enterprise, therefore I'm your boss, so you're coming with us. Now."

Izzy spoke up, like she hadn't heard the captain. "If I help you, we can gain some time," she said calmly to Bones, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No."

"Bones, please," she tried.

"Are you guys deaf or something? I said no!" Jim shouted. "We're moving," he added authoritatively.

"NO!" Bones stated once again.

"Just a few minutes, James," Izzy told him and turned her attention to the wound.

"Okay," Jim gave in. He turned to the engineer who stood beside him. "Scotty, you'll go back to the Enterprise," he said and looked at the doctors. "I'll stay here to watch your backs and when you're finished, we'll go to ship as well," he added. Bones and Izzy nodded without even looking up at him, while Scotty did the same and started to run.

A few minutes passed quietly. Bones sometimes spoke to Izzy, asking for her help, but that was all. "We found them!" they suddenly heard a voice from the town's direction. Jim looked up and saw about twenty or more soldiers getting closer. It was over. There was no way they could get away from them.


	5. Heart to heart

* * *

(4) **Heart to heart**

* * *

Luckily, the soldiers put Bones and Izzy in the same cell. It'd been a bit more than an hour since they'd ended up there and ever since then, Izzy hadn't spoken a word. She was sitting on the ground, watching the same spot on the opposite wall. In the first half an hour Bones had tried to get her talk but he'd failed, so he leaned against a wall and closed his eyes.

He wanted to curse, shout and ask the guards what the hell they'd been thinking when they'd brought them here. If they really were witches or what, they would have been able to stop the soldiers and escape, right? But he didn't say a word because he knew Izzy was scared. She didn't want to say it out loud but he saw that look in her eyes.

The big double door opened and two guards walked in. "You are coming with us, warlock," one of them said, pointing at Bones. He opened his eyes and slowly stood up. The guard opened the door, let him out and locked the door. Izzy watched them as they left the room. She had no idea why they took away Bones, since he did nothing wrong. And now, she was alone.

And she was scared.

She was thinking about what'd happened when the soldiers had arrived. They'd only wanted to capture Bones and her. They'd let Jim go back to the Enterprise because the old woman had only told them about the two in the blue clothes. Of course, Jim had wanted to stay with them but the soldiers hadn't let him. That was the best he could do - go back to the Enterprise and help the others find a way to get beam them up before…

She didn't want to think about it. Death was definitely something she didn't want to experience on her second day as the member of the USS Enterprise's crew.

Half an hour passed before they finally brought back Bones. He didn't look well. Actually his current state reminded her on the one she'd last seen Jim in before he'd joined Starfleet. The guards shove him in and left. Bones sat on the ground and leaned against the wall as he cursed under his breath.

Izzy took a deep breath and sat beside him. "How are you?" she asked quietly.

"I'll live," he replied shortly, putting a hand on the back of his neck. When he pulled it back, he saw blood on his fingertips. "Great," was all he said, trying to forget about the wound.

"Take off your shirt," Izzy ordered.

"Excuse me?" he asked, giving her a suspicious look. He could think of numerous reasons why she wanted him to take off his shirt, but none of these seemed to be the correct answer. Let alone with two guards standing in the other end of the room.

"Bones, please, I have to disinfect that wound on your neck," she said, gently putting a hand on his arm.

The doctor sighed and took off his shirt. He knew she was right - he only had to take a look around to see that. The place was dirtier than anything he'd seen before. Izzy pulled out a small antiseptic-soaked handkerchief, sat behind him and started to clean the wound. "Are you alright?" he suddenly asked.

Izzy let out a strange sound. "I don't get it," she started. "You're the one they took away and who came back with a wound and you're asking me if I'm alright?" she asked in disbelief. Bones turned his head to give her a look. "Well… I think I'm fine," she lied.

"Izzy," he said quietly, putting a hand on hers what rested on his shoulder. "Don't be scared, okay?"

"I'm not scared," she replied quickly. "Actually I'm totally freaked out," she admitted a few seconds later with a quiet and dry laugh.

Bones ran a hand through his hair. "How's the wound?" he asked.

"There's nothing more I can do."

"Alright, thanks," he said as he pulled back his shirt. "Come here," he went on, pointing at the spot beside him. Izzy did what he said and crawled next him. "Now, tell me about your family," Bones told her, putting an arm around her shoulder. She looked up at him with a questioning look. "I'd like to hear how you and Jim grew up. And this way you hopefully won't think about the situation we're in."

Izzy let out a long sigh as she leaned against Bones. "My mother... well, she ended up in an asylum when I was around four. Then my father married Winona, James' mother, when I was about five. James was already six back then. Later Winona was often off-planet and I remember all James did during these days was trying to get on my father's nerves. When he was about nine, he drove my father's 1965 Corvette off a cliff. I swear to God, I've never seen my father be that angry."

"What did he do?"

"Actually… Nothing. At first, he wanted to send James to a military school but decided against it. James is the most important person in Winona's life so he couldn't just take him away from her," she said. "When I was around fourteen, I started to help James. You know, when he sneaked out, I let him leave and come back to the house through my window so they had no idea he left the house. My father put some sensors in his window and James didn't want to deal with it every single time. Then he started to get into fights in the bars so using my window became quite regular. I helped him with his injuries so he didn't have to go to the hospital."

Bones looked down at her and at the same moment, he realized he'd been massaging her shoulder with one hand. "That's why you became a doctor?" he asked. Izzy nodded. "That was nice. I mean, that you helped him. And the things you said about his relationship with your father… that explains Jim's behavior."

"Yeah," was all she said with a nod, her voice full with sadness. "But actually there was another reason as well: my mother. She's the reason why I wasn't assigned on any Starfleet ship when the whole Nero incident happened: I was in Iowa at time to see her. And she's also the reason why I can't decide what to do with myself. Going off-world with a starship or staying on Earth, working at Starfleet Medical. But even if I chose the second option... what area should I specialize to? Psychiatrics or surgery? It's too hard right now but, after all, I still have time."

"Try to have some rest," the doctor told her after a few moments of silence. "Jim would kill me if something happened to you."

Izzy lay down and rested her head on Bones' lap. "It's your turn," she muttered.

"What?"

"I've already told you about my family. It's your turn."

"What do you want to know?" he asked, watching her.

"I don't know," she replied, her gaze locked on the wall on the other side of the room. "Just talk. It's way too quiet here."

"I got divorced right before I joined Starfleet about three years ago," he started. "My ex-wife took away everything and I had nothing left. She even took away our daughter. I haven't seen her since the trial," he added quietly.

Izzy turned her head to look up at him. "You have a daughter?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Bones replied shortly, and subconsciously started to stroke her hair after she turned back her head. It was like this movement eased the pain a little bit. He didn't like to talk or even think about his ex-wife because he hated her. But his daughter was different. He loved and missed her.

"How old is she now?" she asked after a short pause.

"Nine," he said without thinking. "And her name is Joanna."

"Cute name," Izzy said with a smile.

Bones laughed quietly at this. "Yes, that's why it suits her," he added. "Too bad my ex-wife doesn't let me see her." The girl let out a questioning sound, so he went on. "After we got back to Earth and every patient from the ship was stabilized, I tried to contact her. But she classified her address and phone numbers. Once we got back to Earth after this mission, the first thing I'll do is finding them."

They were talking for a few more minutes about Johanna, his divorce and other things before Izzy fell asleep. It only lasted for about ten minutes, then her eyes suddenly opened and she looked up at him. "You don't think they'll save us," she stated.

The doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Before Izzy had fallen asleep, they'd been talking about something that had probably made her mind work while she was sleeping. "It's not that I think they would like to leave us behind, but they obviously can't beam us up from here…"

"That is, if Chekov can't solve the problem," she pointed out. "I heard he's quite a genius."

"Yes, he is," he admitted.

"Then why don't you think we can get out of here?"

"Izzy, I'm just as pessimistic as always," he replied with a dry laugh, stroking her hair once again.

Long hours passed and they talked about almost everything during this time: school, friends, sports, dreams, movies, etc. They only realized it was already 'next morning' when the guards brought them something to eat and drink. Bones was now pacing in the cell, thinking about a way to get out of that building. Too bad he wasn't the expert of these kinds of things.

"What do you think, how will they kill us?" Izzy spoke up, breaking the silence.

Bones gave her a questioning look. "I thought you think they will get us out of here," he said.

"That was a few hours ago," she said, like this statement explained everything. "So? Will they burn us alive or hang us up? Or they'll burn _me_ alive and hang _you_ up?" she asked, her voice almost hysterical.

"Thanks to you, right now I think Chekov will find a way to beam us up very soon," he said after letting out a long sigh. "Maybe he's only seventeen, but he's still a genius, I have to admit this one," he added, sitting beside her. He wasn't lying. He really did think the young Russian will solve the problem. "Just try to calm down."

Izzy closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. "I'm trying," she said.

"I know," Bones replied.

Just then the guards opened the double door and they only heard a few sentences from the conversation. It didn't sound good. They got an order to take the captives to the main square.

Luck. There's no other word that could describe what happened. When the guards started to walk up to them, they were beamed up to the Enterprise. A small crowd stood there with huge smiles on their faces. Izzy stood up and ran to hug Jim. "Great timing," was all she said, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Sorry it took us so long," Jim said. "But it's good to see both of you in one piece," he added with a smile.

"Chekov, you're a real hero. I owe you one," Bones said as he tried to get through the crowd. "Well, we can celebrate our return after I visited the medical bay," he announced.

"Wait, I'll help you!" Izzy called out and ran after him. Spock raised an eyebrow and exchanged questioning looks with Kirk.

* * *

**Meanwhile on **_**Exilion**_

A man in his late thirties, wearing traditional military uniform, and a young woman in her twenties, wearing a modern uniform, was walking down the hallway. Almost everyone saluted them as they passed by. "I hope you understand the significance of this mission, Colonel," the man said seriously, briefly glancing at the woman.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Though there is something I don't exactly understand, General," she added.

"What would that be?" he asked as they entered a conference room and stood in front of a huge touch screen.

"Why can't I do this by myself?" she asked, running a hand through her red hair. "I mean, I have no problem with Colonel Ward, but I think I could finish it off sooner alone."

The man took a deep breath as he touched the screen, and a picture of the ruins of a building appeared on it. "To be honest, you pretty much screwed up your last 'alone mission', Colonel. You didn't care about my orders and did whatever you wanted. That is _not_ how things are working here, can you understand that?" he asked firmly, verbally humiliating her with the question.

"Yes, sir," she replied quietly as closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "So all we have to do is going to that planet, finding him and bringing him here in one piece, correct?"

"Correct," he replied with a nod, his brown eyes curiously observing her face.

"Since Colonel Ward is due to come back tomorrow morning, I think it would be the best if we left the day after tomorrow. He has no ship, so he won't go anywhere."

"Fine with me," he agreed. "Just make sure he stays alive."

The colonel's eyes widened slightly at his comment. "But he's a hitman who tried to kill you, sir," she said slowly.

"Colonel," he growled, giving her a firm look. "I said, I want him alive!"

"Understood," she said immediately.

"Wonderful. Now go."

The woman nodded and left the room, leaving the now very upset general behind.

* * *

**Author's note:** The end of this chapter... So I changed the whole thing with Colonel Evans. Actually I'm planning on writing an original science-fiction story about that storyline for NaNoWriMo 2009 (and, of course, there wouldn't be Enterprise or Kirk or anything like that) or Script Frenzy 2010. But there's another story I'd like to write for NaNoWriMo this year, so it will have to wait for next year. And one more thing: I was thinking about which actor/actress 'should' play the new characters (in case I'll write it for Script Frenzy). General Collins: Seth MacFarlane (I'm not kidding. He'll play a recurring character in Flash Forward, too XD). Colonel Ward: Bradley Cooper, maybe. I'm not sure about Colonel Evans, though. If you have any (or better) ideas, don't hold back :)


	6. You'll come with me now

**Disclaimer / Author's note:** I do not own the Star Trek or the Stargate series. I won't turn this story into a Stargate crossover, don't worry. The Asgards or the Goa'ulds or other races won't show up, but maybe I'll mention them. Maybe. But I'm sure I'll borrow things like the Zat, the Asgard transporter (you know, bright light, etc.) and so on. The Colonel will explain everything in the next chapter. I swear.

* * *

(5) **You'll come with me now**

* * *

"Nice planet."

That was the first sentence of Captain James T. Kirk after the team beamed down to the planet. According to the computer it was inhabited and like that, nature ruled the whole place. There were huge plants and green grass everywhere.

"Okay, Mr. Spock, Izzy will go with you, so she can help you search for flowers, plants or whatever," he told his first officer who nodded in respone. "Bones, you'll come with me. Maybe we'll find something interesting," he continued as he turned to the doctor then started to follow a path. "A giant squirrel maybe," Jim added with a smile.

"A giant squirrel," he heard Izzy sarcastic voice from behind.

"Come on, Izzy, a giant squirrel would be cool. And you love squirrels, don't you?" he called back, but the young doctor didn't reply. Jim turned back for a second and saw that she was already gone. Of course.

Bones shook his head but didn't say anything.

"What is it, Bones?" Jim asked casually, glancing over at the doctor with a small smirk. He knew him well enough to know he wanted to say something: call him an idiot, or scolding him for acting like an infant.

"Sometimes I don't know how she could become a doctor after growing up with you," he commented dryly, earning a look from the captain.

"Thanks," was all he said. They were walking silently for a while before Jim spoke up again. "You know I noticed something. Ever since we brought you back to the Enterprise, you and Izzy spend a lot of time together," he said. That was true. And he kind of missed her. It had been only two days, so it was silly, he knew, still. Maybe he was just a bit overprotective.

The doctor looked at him with an incredulous expression on his face. "She's a doctor, Jim. And she came here to learn. Sorry to disappoint you, but unlike you, she listens to what I say."

"Yeah, right, Bones. You know, the reason why I wanted her on this ship in the next three months was to test your patience. She grew up with me so she can be pretty annoying sometimes." Bones muttered something like 'tell me something I don't know' under his breath, but Jim didn't seem to hear it. "After she goes back to Earth, the real first resident will get on the ship and you'll have to handle them without my help for almost a year."

"I know it, Jim, thank you. And don't worry, I'll be fine," he added.

The captain let out a sigh and briefly looked over at the doctor. "Even if the said resident is a big fan of you?" he asked quietly.

"What are you trying to say?" Bones asked seriously, stopping and turning a bit to face his friend.

"What I'm trying to say is that, as you already know, Izzy really is a big fan of you," he started. "You aced at a lot of things back at the Academy, you got that slug out of Pike's brain as well, so actually I can kind of understand her. But I've talked to her since she's on the Enterprise, Bones, and something changed. Especially since you two were on that planet alone. She likes you," he added after a very short pause.

Bones' jaw dropped a little. "You say she likes me?" he asked. If someone, then Jim knew Izzy well enough to know these things. But they'd only met about four or five days before.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice," the captain looked at him, obviously shocked by the question. "Jesus, Bones, I know your divorce was really rough but it's been more than three years! What the hell have you been - or rather haven't been - doing since then!?"

"Damn it, Jim, I'm sorry I'm not a manwhore like you," he burst out, earning a look from Jim. "Sorry - a womanizer," he said mockingly, turning his attention to the tricorder in his hand.

"It usually takes us a very short amount of time to decide whether or not we like the other person," Jim commented knowingly.

Bones was about to say something when his tricorder beeped. "Humanoids, not far from here," he stated.

"That's strange; the computer said the planet was inhabited. How many of them?"

"Only three. And they are scattered," he replied.

The captain nodded, and they went to find them. Two moved quite quickly, while the other one barely moved - they chose to look for that one. After walking for a few minutes they found an ancient looking building, probably an old temple. It looked exactly like an old Aztec temple. Maybe the habitants were the ancestors of the Aztecs. According to Bones' tricorder, the humanoid they were looking for was on the other side of the building.

"One of the other humanoids is on its way here," the doctor spoke up as they rounded the temple, only taking his eyes off the tricorder for a few moments. "They'll be here in about three minutes," he added.

"Amazing," Jim muttered. "How far is the one who's here somewhere?"

Bones looked up and pointed at the bottom of the stairs. "I think that black thing is what we are looking for," he stated, heading toward the humanoid. "They're probably injured." The form under the black cover shifted - they were alive. Bones, being a good doctor, ran there and pulled off the covers. The creature wasn't simply a humanoid: it seemed to be entirely human. A male, to be exact. "Hey, can you hear me?" he asked and the man nodded.

"What happened to you?" Jim asked as Bones took out the scanner from his pocket. After he finished the scanning procedure, he took a few steps back to analyze the results. The man replied, but he was so quiet, that Jim had to lean closer to hear him. He tried hard to speak and breathe, coughing every once in a while. He was dying, and Bones knew that, so he let him speak. He seemed desperate to tell something important to the captain.

Then he suddenly stopped talking. Bones looked at the tricorder. "He's dead, Jim."

The captain nodded and pulled the covers over his head. "I know," he said quietly.

"What did he say?"

"That's a good question," they heard a female voice from behind. They turned around and saw a woman standing there, pointing a gun at them. She was wearing a dark grey leather uniform with green borders on it, and her red hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail. Her dark green eyes were shifting back and forth between them. "What's the matter?" she asked with a smirk as she fixed her gaze on Jim. "Cat got your tongue?"

Bones glanced over at the captain and rolled his eyes. Jim was glaring at the unknown woman, probably thinking about her tight uniform - typical. And now that he thought about it. "Why are you wearing a uniform?" he asked suspiciously.

The woman looked over at him with slightly raised eyebrows. "And why are _you_ wearing a uniform?" she replied with a triumphant smirk. They didn't respond, so she went on. "What did he tell you?" she asked Jim.

"Just the usual things, like 'I don't want to die' and 'it can't end like that'," he replied calmly.

"You're bluffing. I saw when he was talking to you. Come on, spit it out already!"

"Jim," Bones spoke up quietly, looking at him. The captain only shook his head. "Damn it, just tell her so we can leave this planet," he said, but it was pointless.

The colonel sighed as she was rubbing the bridge of her nose. "You'll come with me now. I'll interrogate you later," she stated in a rather tired tone, still pointing the Zat at them.

"Why would I go with you?" Jim asked her as the smile, which had been on his lips since they'd met the woman, finally disappeared from his face.

"Maybe because I'm pointing a gun at you?" she asked, slightly tilting her to one side.

"Good reason," Bones admitted, nodding a couple of times.

"I have bad news for you: I won't go."

"Too bad," she said and shot Bones, who collapsed on the ground. "So you won't come with me?" she tried again, smiling sweetly at him.

Jim was shocked. "Why did you kill him?" he demanded.

"He's not dead; only unconscious," she replied casually with a shrug. "So?" she asked once again, a little bit annoyed. Why couldn't he simply say 'yes, I'm going with you'?

"I want explanation."

"Oh, sorry then," the colonel said and shot him as well. "I don't have time to play around," she muttered as she dropped a small thing on Jim's body. "Craig, the target is dead. I'll see you on the ship," she said and pushed a button on the bracelet-like device on her right wrist.

* * *

"Blue flower, red thorns, blue flower, red thorns... this would be so much easier if I wasn't colorblind!" she murmured with a smile while they were walking.

Spock looked down at Izzy for a second. Ever since they'd reached an area which was full with some kind of a plant with blue flowers and red thorns, she was murmuring something. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"Oh, don't worry about me," she said quickly, scratching the back of her neck. "It's just a quote from an old animated movie we used to watch with James when we were kids," she explained.

"I see," he said as he slowed down. "I think we should take one of these plants with us."

The doctor nodded and kneeled down beside one. "Though there's a small difference between these," she started, pointing at the one in front of her, "and those," she added, pointing at another one in front of Spock. "This one here has red flowers and blue thorns. We should take a sample from both."

The Vulcan nodded, and they both took out a small knife to cut the stem. When they grabbed it, the plant suddenly grew its thorns and it stung their hands, while the flowers emitted something. Coughing, they put the plants in boxes and walked away for a few seconds.

Izzy, being a doctor, went to Spock with a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked after she pulled out her scanner.

"I am fine, doctor," he replied, finally not coughing.

"Great. According to the scanner, you are not going to die," Izzy assured him with a small smile.

"This flower is… fascinating. It has an advanced self-defense system," he said. He pulled out his communicator and tried to contact Jim, but he didn't get an answer. "That is strange," he said quietly. Izzy gave him a questioning look. "The captain is not answering."

She ran a hand through her hair. "I really don't want to panic and maybe he has a good reason but I think we should go and see what's going on with them," she said.

Spock agreed, so they grabbed the boxes and headed to the other team's direction. As they got closer they saw a strange, bright light for a second. When they reached the side of the temple where the others had been a few seconds ago, Izzy instantly recognized Bones who lay on the ground, still unconscious from the Zat.

"Bones!" she screamed and ran to him, checking his pulse and heart beat. "He's alive," she told Spock. "But we have to take him to the medical bay," she added, shaking and almost crying.

"Mr. Scott, beam us up," he ordered through the communicator. He had a feeling that the bright light had been some kind of a transporter. "Whoever they met here, they took away Captain Kirk," he said.


	7. Weirdness

* * *

(6) **Weirdness**

* * *

"So... what do you want to do now?" Colonel Craig Ward was sitting in front of a control panel, going through his previously finished report. He looked over at the other colonel for a short second, waiting for an answer, but the woman seemed to be lost in her thoughts. He was about to repeat his question a bit louder when she half turned to him.

At first, she didn't say anything, only checked if her ponytail was tight enough. "I'll interrogate him once we got back to Exilion," she stated with a thoughtful look on her face. "Until then, I'm going to have a little chat with him," she added as she stood up.

Craig raised an eyebrow and gave her a disapproving look. "You mean _we_ are going to have a little chat with him," he corrected her firmly.

"No. Someone has to stay here to make sure everything's alright," Serena repeated with a mischievous smile, walking toward the door.

"General Collins was clear about this," Craig spoke up, turning around with the seat to look at her back. "You can't do this alone," he added seriously.

"Oh, come on, he's not here," she said, turning around to look him in the eye. "Would you tell him if I did it alone?"

She got him there. Maybe the general was their superior, but he didn't have to know about everything. "No," he replied.

"I thought so." A smile slowly appeared on her lips before she turned around and pushed a button. "Thank you," she called back and was about to leave the room when Craig spoke up.

"You'd better not kill him!" he warned her.

"Don't worry, we'll just talk," she assured him with a wink, finally leaving the room.

The door closed behind her, and Craig shook his head as he turned back to look at the screen in front of him. "Yeah, you said the same last time and the poor guy ended up in the morgue," he muttered.

Serena was walking to the captain's cell, her footsteps echoing between the hallway's cold, metal walls. She remembered how he had reacted to her uniform - the look in his eyes had given him away. That was exactly what she was about to use against him. After she put her hand above a small scanner, the doors slid open and she entered. "Hello," she greeted Jim, who was lying on a bed in the other side of the room.

He sat up and rested his back against the wall behind him. "Hi," he said.

"I was quite rude down there and forgot to introduce myself," she started, sitting on a chair beside him. "I'm Colonel Serena Evans," she introduced herself.

"Serena? Nice name. It suits you," Jim said with a flirtatious smile. He clearly remembered what she'd said back on the planet: 'I'll interrogate you later'. Since he wasn't stupid and he was perfectly aware of what kind of effect he had on women, he decided to use this against her. She was a woman after all. "I'm Captain James Kirk. Can I ask you something?" he asked after a short silence.

"Sure."

"Why did you want to kill that guy?"

Her eyes widened right when she heard his question. "Whoa, wait! We didn't kill him," she replied quickly. "I thought _you_ were the ones who did it," she added a bit calmer.

Shaking his head, Jim replied. "No. He moved slowly and was already dying when we got there. We thought you and the other one was looking for him to finish the job," he explained, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Okay. So we definitely didn't kill him," Serena started, rubbing the back of her neck. "And you say you didn't kill him, either. Then who... or rather what killed him?" she asked, honestly unsure of the answer.

Jim frowned at her question. Was she seriously thinking about how that man had died? A few moments before she'd been asking about what he had told him. "Is it some kind of a decoy?" he suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, you being nice and everything."

"I'm usually nice, Captain Kirk," she said with a smile.

Leaning a bit forward, Jim flashed an arrogant smile at her. "I hope you know my crew will do everything to save me," he said. "We went through a lot together and they are very loyal to their captain." Why did he say that? Actually Jim had no idea.

"Good to know," she replied with a sweet smile, leaning forward as well. "By the way, we'll arrive to our destination in four hours. I thought you'd like to know."

"Thanks," was all he said, leaning closer to her. "Your eyes are gorgeous, you know that?" he asked, back to the flirtatious tone.

The colonel leaned closer - again - so know their faces were really close. A victorious smile slowly appeared on Jim's lips. "Don't even try to seduce me, because that won't work on me," Serena stated after a few seconds of silence. She stood up and walked out of the cell, laughing at his expression.

* * *

"What did I do wrong?" Izzy asked quietly, looking over at Christine.

The nurse shook her head as she walked over to Bones' bed. "I checked everything. He's only sleeping, don't worry," she said kindly with a reassuring smile.

Nodding, she replied. "I know, but... what if I missed something? We don't know what kind of weapon they used. What if it's-"

"Izzy, stop it!" she interrupted her, slightly raising her voice. The young doctor had been acting strangely since they'd got back from the planet. She was restless and slightly paranoid. "Are you sure you want to be a doctor?" she asked her.

"Of course. Why?"

"Because both you and Doctor M'Benga checked everything, you know he's only asleep still, you're freaked out," she explained calmly.

"How the hell should I be not freaked out?" Izzy burst out, yelling at the nurse who raised a hand and tried to calm her down. "He's the chief medical officer of the ship after all!" she added angrily, gesturing toward the doctor.

The nurse let out a tired sigh. "Just try to calm down and be patient. And, if you really don't know what to do with yourself, you should go and check on your patients." The brunette gave her a shocked look before she turned her attention back to Bones. Christine left and went to another room to find Dr. M'Benga. "Doctor," she said.

He was checking the pupils of one of his patients when she entered. "Nurse Chapel," he said with a friendly smile as he looked up at her. "How's Dr. Bones?" he asked.

"Still sleeping," she replied shortly.

"And Dr. Krause?"

Christine let out a sigh and shrugged. "Still acting strangely," she replied and M'Benga shook his head. "We have to find out what happened to them on that planet. According to Lieutenant Uhura, Commander Spock is also restless which is quite unusual in his case."

Less then fifteen minutes after Nurse Chapel left the room, Bones shifted and slowly opened his eyes. "Good morning, Bones," Izzy greeted him with a small smile. She turned looked up at the monitor above his bed to check his heartbeat and pulse. "How are you?" she asked as she turned her attention back to him.

"I'm fine," he said hoarsely, trying to sit up. Izzy quickly put a hand on his chest and pushed him back. "Izzy," he tried but failed, because the woman only shook her head. "How long was I unconscious?"

She glanced at the digital clock on the wall. "For a bit more than an hour," she replied.

Bones groaned as he sat up, ignoring Izzy's protest. "Damn it, that bitch kidnapped Jim, and you want me to stay here because I was unconscious for an hour?" he asked angrily. He knew there wasn't much he could do as a doctor, but going to the bridge for some information would have been way better.

"Oh, sorry I was worried about you," she said sarcastically. "You know, for a second, when we found you, I thought you were dead." Her voice wasn't sarcastic. It was different - she was perfectly honest.

Bones didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Jim had been right: it was pathetic. While he was thinking about what to say or do, Izzy put a hand behind his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He hesitated for a second because he was her superior so it was against the rules, plus they'd only been working together for about four days, but he couldn't resist and deepened the kiss.

Someone cleared his throat behind them. "Do you want me to come back later, doctor?"

"We should continue this in my quarters tonight," Izzy quickly whispered to him, before turning around with a cheerful smile on her face. "He has plenty of time, Mr. Spock," she said and turned back to Bones. "Now that he's here, you should tell us what happened to you and James."

"We found a man on the planet that was already dying when we got there. He told something to Jim before he died. Then a young woman showed up, wearing some kind of a uniform, pointed a gun at us, and then she started to ask Jim about what that guy told him. Jim didn't want to answer, so she told Jim he had to go with her. He protested, she shot me with some kind of a weapon and that's all I remember."

Spock arched an eyebrow. "What do you know about her?" he asked.

"Nothing. But she said something about interrogating Jim later," Bones replied. "Do _you_ know anything about her?" he turned to the Vulcan.

"Yes," he nodded. "Lieutenant Uhura will stay on the bridge until she hears something we can use to find out where they are or where are they going. It might take a few hours," he explained, looking at Izzy with a strange expression.

She looked up at him, too. "Thank you for the information," she said quickly, unable to tear her gaze away. "When will you examine the flowers we found on the planet?" she asked, slightly tilting her head to one side.

"I am going to examine them until we find out something about their whereabouts," he replied.

"Can I join you?" Izzy asked eagerly, shifting in her chair. The first officer nodded in response and, after excusing himself, left the medical bay with Izzy right on his heels.

For the next few seconds, what seemed to be at least an hour, Bones was staring at the door, trying to figure out what the hell was it all about. Nurse Chapel soon entered the room with her usual friendly smile, but before she could say anything, Bones turned to her and spoke up. "What flowers were they talking about?" he asked the nurse, who let out a tired sigh before she sat down and started to explain him the whole situation.

* * *

**Author's note:** I changed a lot of things here, didn't I?


	8. Torture

**Author's note:** Before you start to read... A HUGE thanks goes to **iluvstorms** for being my beta. Though, I have to admit, what you are about to read, is still under betaing. Once I got the edited versions, I'll replace these files. I swear. But I didn't want to keep you waiting for too long so I went kamikaze mode and posted these non-edited chapters.

And, of course, a huge thanks goes for your supportive reviews guys, too!! I thought about the story and actually I had to realize that rewriting the whole thing would have taken me an awful lot of time, so I only added new scenes, sentences or simply changed a couple of things. (Plus I found out what was my real problem with the fic: the Jim's kidnapping. I didn't like it.) Before you read this chapter, please read over the previous ones as well! In some chapters - like chapter 2 - I didn't change anything in the first half, so even if you remember it, go on. And there are chapters - like chapter 3 - where I didn't change anything. Biggest change in the storyline: chapter 5. Oh, and at the end of a couple of chapters, I put a little 'behind the scenes' part in the author's note. Thanks for your patience! (It took me so long because I was writing original fiction and watched the entire third season of Heroes.)

* * *

(7) **Torture**

* * *

The door closed with a harsh hiss behind her. The colonel sat on the chair opposite of Jim, who was staring blankly at her. "Will you tell me everything I want to know by yourself?" she asked with a smile, folding her arms on the metal table. The captain didn't respond. He didn't even move. They'd arrived to the planet about one and a half hours before and he'd been sitting in that interrogation room for an hour now. He was tired and thirsty. "So you won't say a word, will you?" Slowly shaking her head, Serena stood up and walked over to Jim.

As she leaned closer to him from behind, Jim finally turned his head to look at her. There was a strange, maniacal glint in her eyes and he could tell she was up to something he wouldn't like. "What will you do to get what you want? Torture me?" he asked with a challenging smirk. "That would be against the laws of-"

"Exilion is a neutral planet, Captain Kirk," she explained with a sadistic grin. "Your beloved laws mean absolutely nothing here. But I'm pretty sure you know that." After a short pause, she went on. "By the way, I'm well-known as, let's just say, the expert of interrogation," she whispered into his ear, putting her fingertips on the back of his neck. Jim gave her a questioning look and the next second, electricity ran through his body. He roared in pain and that made Serena pull away her hand. "So... will you tell me what I want to know?"

"What the hell was that!?" he demanded, breathing heavily and massaging the back of his neck to ease the burning pain.

The colonel let out a short, sarcastic laugh as she walked to the two-way mirror to shortly look at herself. "You wanna know what was that?" she asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, watching Jim's reflection in the mirror.

He looked at her reflection and nodded. "Yeah," he replied.

"What do you know about electric eels? If I'm correct, that's what you call those creatures."

"It's a kind of fish that has plus organs to produce electricity."

Serena smiled as she turned around and slowly walked closer to him. "Three pairs of organs, to be exact. They use electricity for both hunting and self-defense. Well, that's the answer for your question," she added with a rigorous smile. At the moment she was nothing more but a predator that was waiting for its prey to break.

"You say... you have organs that can produce electricity?" he asked incredulously. The colonel nodded in response. "Bullshit." Letting out a shy, she put her hand above the table. Soon, electrical arcs appeared between her fingers and the table, and Jim quickly pushed his chair backwards. "I can't believe it," he said slowly.

"I could kill you if I wanted to," she said nonchalantly, impatiently tapping her fingers on the table. "Tell me everything I want to know, or I'll shock you again. And this time... it will _really_ hurt," she hissed.

"I can't."

"Oh, you can't?" she repeated doubtfully, raising an eyebrow.

Anxiously running a hand through his dirty blond hair, Jim looked up at her. He didn't know what to think about her. Only a few seconds after she'd entered the interrogation room, she'd become a total psycho. "I was told to stay quiet until I hear the password or what," he explained calmly. He knew well enough how to treat psycho women - he had 'dated' a couple of them in the past.

The end of his sentence seemed to get her attention. "So you need a password?"

Nodding, he replied. "It seems like it."

"Is it a numerical code? Or an alphanumerical one? A sentence? A name?" she tried, but Jim didn't reply, only shrugged. Letting out a sigh, she started to walk back and forth between the walls. "Oh, is it a date?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know," the colonel repeated slowly. "You're getting on my nerves, Kirk!" she suddenly shouted, grabbing his neck and shocking him with electricity once again.

"Damn it! I told you I don't know what it is! It's not a simple alphanumerical code, still..."

It's not a simple alphanumerical code. Jim's words echoed in her head, like they were trying to make her remember something. Something important, like... "Echo-2: Reaper," she suddenly spoke up, letting go of his neck and taking a step back. "That's it, right?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, the captain looked up at her with an amused expression. "How did you find out?" he asked, thinking about it. She had actually shocked him to get the password and now, all of sudden, she knew it.

"I-"

"That's enough, Colonel," a deep voice interrupted her after the door opened with a hiss. Jim looked over at the dark haired man as he came closer and stood beside the colonel. He looked at her with a rather serious, yet questioning expression on his face.

Serena swallowed as she looked at him. "General?" she asked politely.

"How did you know the password?" His voice was cold and authoritative.

"I accidentally overheard you while you were talking on the phone last week," she whispered almost inaudibly. "What does Reaper have to do with this, sir?" she asked a little bit louder.

The general took a deep breath to calm himself. "It is none of your business. You may leave now. I will finish the interrogation."

"If Reaper is involved, _sir_, it _is_ my business," she hissed angrily and the lights flickered as she was speaking. Jim assumed it had something to do with her electrical ability. The way she talked to her superior amazed him. On the Enterprise, no one would ever dare to talk to him like that if it wasn't a life or death situation. Alright, maybe McCoy would.

A couple of seconds passed in complete silence. General Collins watched Serena with a thoughtful look on his face. He didn't move an inch - and Jim wondered whether he was breathing or not. "What do you know about Dr. Xavier Ryder's death?"

"Officially, he died in an accident, but," she trailed off as she decided not to finish the sentence, but the general questioningly raised an eyebrow, waiting for the continuation. "I think someone simply wanted to get rid of him."

"Do you have any idea who?"

"My idea is nothing more but a guess, sir," she replied quickly, watching a random spot on the wall behind Kirk. Since her superior didn't reply, she sighed and went on. "I think Marshal Gates has something to do with this," she said quietly.

"Alright, you can stay."

"What made you-?"

Collins raised a hand to silence her. "It doesn't matter, Colonel," he replied harshly as he pulled out the chair opposite of Jim. He sat down and rested his hands on the table. "Captain Kirk, right?" he asked with a small, friendly smile.

"Yes. The captain of the USS Enterprise," Jim replied cautiously. The colonel had done the exact same thing a few minutes before. She had put on the same friendly smile what had soon turned into a sadistic grin. Plus, he didn't want to be electrified again. "And you are...?"

"General Wesley Collins, head of the special ops. I am sorry about the electroshock," he added, shooting a disapproving look at Serena, who started to rub the bridge of her nose. "That is not how we usually treat our..." he started, stopping for a second to find the right word, "guests."

Serena let out a sarcastic laugh. "Guest," she repeated, resting one hand on her waist and the other one on her forehead.

"Evans!"

"Okay, okay, I am sorry. Please, go on."

A smile appeared on Jim's lips as he realized something. The two of them were arguing like he and Bones did. As the captain of the ship, he was McCoy's superior, but since he was the chief medical officer, Bones usually did whatever he wanted. Serena seemed to be a lot like him: she was sadistic - the electroshock was almost as bad as the hypospray -, pessimistic and sometimes didn't give a damn about showing respect towards her superior.

The general took a deep breath as he turned his attention back to Kirk. "I will make sure we send out a message to your ship to let them know where you are. Until they arrive, Colonel Evans will look out for you. You will stay at her house. Is that okay with you?" he asked, ignoring the woman's resistance. Jim looked over at Serena for a moment with a cocky grin on his face, and then turned back to the other man and nodded. "Great."

"You cannot be serious!" she yelled angrily.

"Make sure he doesn't get hurt," was all he said coldly before he left the interrogation room.

* * *

Lieutenant Uhura was the one who received the message from Exilion. Spinning her chair around to look at Spock, who was sitting in the captain's chair, she spoke up. "Commander, I have just received a message from Exilion. They say the captain is there, waiting for us."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he replied, turning to the helmsman. "Mr. Sulu, we are going to Exilion."

"Aye, sir," he replied.

Everyone knew what to do after that. Actually, all Spock could to do was sitting in the chair, watching the others and thinking about what James Kirk had gotten himself into this time. According to McCoy, he had been kidnapped, and now they got a message that he was waiting for them. It didn't really make sense to him.

A short beeping sound snapped him out of his thoughts. After pressing a few buttons on the consol, he spoke up. "Yes?"

"Commander, if you have a few minutes, you should come to the science lab. I found something," came the quick reply.

"Is it really important, Dr. Krause?"

"I think it is."

"I will be there in a minute."

"Thank you," Izzy replied.

Spock let Sulu in charge and headed to the turbolift. The science lab wasn't far from the bridge, so he arrived in less then three minutes. Looking around, he found Izzy standing in front of a computer, her arms folded over her chest. Her expression was serious and she didn't seem to notice him. "Doctor?" he asked her.

"I think you should see this," Izzy told him without looking at him, pointing at the computer before pushing a few buttons on the screen. The video had been recorded a few hours before and it wasn't unusual: they were simply examining the flowers. Spock started to think she was only wasting his time when something strange happened. Something, he didn't even remember.

He, the always logic Vulcan who can keep his emotions in control, walked over to the doctor and pulled her into a kiss. And she returned it without hesitation. Spock slightly tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow as he was watching the video. The next second he put her on one of the tables and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He stopped it and without looking at the doctor, he cleared his throat. "Do you remember this?"

"No, I don't," she replied, shaking her head. Spock turned to her and she knew he wanted to ask something. "Ensign Kelly Gerard found someone's panties in the lab and... it turned out to be mine. I told her that I know who the owner is and I'll talk to the said person. So after she left, I checked the video files of the security camera and found this. I reckon you don't remember either."

Without saying a word, Spock deleted the file. "Do you have a theory about what happened?"

Izzy nodded. "I sealed the flowers away after I saw this. First, they emitted something and stung us. After that, according to Nurse Chapel, I acted strangely. What happened after that is obvious. I think we inhaled something while we were examining them and it intensified the effect of the previously inhaled substance."

"So it is some kind of aphrodisiac," he stated, earning an agreeing nod from the doctor. "I think we can agree that this never happened."

"Indeed," Izzy replied immediately. She wanted to forget it - the kiss in the medical bay earlier hadn't been a mistake or an effect of the flower. She liked Bones and if something would happen between them during the three months she was about to spend aboard... It wouldn't be a problem for her.

Spock turned around and headed to the door, but stopped before he put his hand above the scanner. "By the way, we found the captain. He is waiting for us on Exilion."

"Thank you for telling me," she replied and watched him leave. After the door closed behind him, she headed to leave as well, but it opened at the moment she got there. "Bones," she said in a surprised tone, instinctively taking a step back. "Shouldn't you still be in bed?"

"A few minutes ago Christine heard a strange story from Ensign Gerard," he stated seriously.

* * *

**Author's note:** As you could see, Lieutenant Xavier Ryder became Dr. Xavier Ryder. Oh, and Reaper? Yeah, I saw the Doom movie. I'll try to post the next chapter way sooner, but I'm still working on the original fiction and I want to finish my Bleach fanfic as well - before September.

I forgot a few things. 1) After they leave Exilion, I'll jump a lot in time. Why? Because the rest of the story will take place after the crew of the Enterprise returned to Earth. I have a lot of Bones/Izzy scenes in my head (aka the rest of the story). 2) Has anyone read my story, _His precious little secret_? If no, it's a PikexOC story. What does it have to do with _Goodbye_? I don't know if I should write a little crossover later. I have plans but I don't know if you would like it :)

_Sweet Executioner_


	9. Three Months

* * *

(8) **Three Months**

* * *

"What story?" she asked in a flustered tone, afraid of the answer. Bones put his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her back into the lab with a strange look in his eyes that she couldn't perfectly identify. The door closed with a dangerous hiss behind him and Izzy couldn't help but swallow. "You're scaring me," she muttered.

Bones wasn't angry. At least he was more confused than angry. He didn't exactly know why, but he liked Izzy and knew there was a small chance that something would happen between them. That kiss and the look in her eyes when he'd woken up proved it. Plus even Jim had mentioned something like that. "Ensign Gerard found someone's underwear here, in the science lab. She told you that and you said you knew who the owner was. She was curious, so she checked the recordings of the security camera and what did she find? You and the green blooded hobgoblin having sex on that god damn table, only about half an hour or an hour after you'd kissed me in the medical bay. What's wrong with you!?"

Dead silence.

"The flowers," she started pathetically, looking him in the eye. What else could she say? He was angry - and he had every right to feel that way - and that definitely made the whole explaining part harder for her.

"What flowers?" he demanded angrily, crossing his arm over his chest and leaning against the table.

Izzy took a deep breath before answering. "The flowers we found with Spock on the planet. It probably infected us with something," she explained, but he didn't look like he believed it. Running a hand through her hair, she stepped closer. "You have to believe me."

After thinking for a second, Bones ran a hand through his hair, laughing dryly. "It would be such a stupid coincidence, don't you think?" His tone

"Please, just test it on a lab rat or something if you don't believe me."

She was begging him to believe her. That surprised Bones, and he had to take a deep breath to clear his head and not to forgive her instantly. "There are patients I have to look after," he replied coldly.

'_Men and their pride_,' Izzy thought for a short second. "Then... try to believe me," she offered quietly, but he didn't say anything. "Okay, look. Have I ever shown any signs that I'm attracted to him?"

"No," he replied slowly, trying to figure out what was she up to.

"Now, have I even shown any signs that I'm attracted to you?"

"Maybe," the doctor replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Izzy's eyes widened in shock as she took a step back. "Maybe? I kiss you and that's only a maybe?" she demanded incredulously.

"Alright, then you did. What's your point?"

"Bones, seriously, you want me to scream?"

That was the kind of question he was waiting for. She was a bit annoyed by his question and, in all honesty, he was happy to see it. "It's up to what kind of scream are you talking about," he replied casually with a mischievous smirk.

"Aw, James had such a bad influence on you," she noted, letting out a long sigh.

Bones sighed and took a step back. "Look, Izzy. I like you. I really do," he started. "But I don't know how to handle this, even if I know it wasn't your fault and even if I'm not your boyfriend. But you know what? After we picked up Jim, we'll go on a date, and start everything again. What do you think?" he asked, and a small smile appeared on his lips as Izzy flashed a happy smile at him.

"Sounds great," she said.

"Good. Now go back to work, Dr. Krause," he ordered seriously.

She laughed a little. "As you wish, Dr. McCoy," she replied, heading off to work.

* * *

_Long_,_ long hours later..._

"You really did it," Izzy commented in an amused tone as they were sitting at a table.

The mess hall was empty, except for the two of them. Bones made sure that no one would interrupt them so, even if it was late at night, they were spending their first official date there, now, after finishing the dinner, drinking champagne. Jim was sleeping in the medical bay, since Bones had taken care of this, too: he had sedated him. First, he was electrified by Colonel Evans. They didn't know what kind of consequences it could have on him. Second, he didn't want to rest like the CMO ordered, so the doctor didn't have much choice but to sedate him.

Bones looked at Izzy who was wearing a black dress, which was a delight after the usual blue uniform he had always seen on her. He, on the other hand, didn't leave the uniform's blue color. The sleeves of his blue shirt were tucked up to his elbows, making sure it wasn't too formal.

"I told you it will only be the two of us tonight," he replied with a smile, pushing a few buttons on the remote control before him. Music filled the room as he stood up and walked over to her, offering a hand.

The woman took it and stood up as well. "It's _Fever_ from Ray Charles and Natalie Cole, isn't it?" she asked with a smile, remembering the first time she had heard the song. Bones nodded as he slid his arms around her waist. "You never cease to amuse me, Doctor."

"I do my best," he replied with a smirk.

Izzy chuckled as she shook her head. "You're always acting like you were some kind of a saint compared to James, but you know what? You're not better than him."

"Oh, if you have a problem with that, I can just go," he replied playfully, removing his hands from her waist and taking a step back. Izzy didn't want it to happen, so she simply took a step forward and folded her arms behind his neck. "So, I think last time we were interrupted by that pointy-eared hobgoblin. Do you remember what were we doing?"

"Hm... No, I don't. What about you?" she asked, slightly tilting her head to one side.

Bones pulled her closer and leaned in to kiss her. It wasn't the kind of passionate kiss they'd shared before. It was something different, something full with emotions. "So three months, huh?" he asked as he pulled away for a second.

"Yeah."

* * *

**Author's note: **Okay, I have good news and bad news. Bad news: that's it. I mean the first part of the story is over. It was a short and lame chapter, but I had a huge writer's block because I've been concentrating on my original fictions lately. Good news: the next chapter will be the first of part 2, and we will jump about five years. And I have ideas.

By the way, the Bones-Izzy date was supposed to be a kind-of-hot club scene. Well, maybe I'll write something like that later. Thanks for the reviews, the favs and **iluvstorms**' help!

_S.E._


	10. Author's note

Okay, everyone. First of all, I'm sorry. I've already changed a lot of things in this story and I hate myself for that. The truth is, I'll start college next week and - even though I won't have to go there on Fridays - I don't think I'll have too much time in the future. I want to concentrate on my original fictions and I also want to finish _Enjoy the silence_, which was my first fanfiction.

So, the thing is, I don't want to abandon this story without finishing it because I already planned out the whole thing. There are two options. _**One:**_I'll write a (quite) short summary about what was my plan for _Part 2_. **Two:** I'll continue the story, but! _Goodbye_'s status will be complete, so _Part 2_ will be a new story. And, this new story will be written like the transcript of a movie. No long describing paragraphs and things like this.

To be honest, my first idea was to write the transcript version, but I don't know if you would like it or not. Please, leave a review and tell me what you think about it.

Thanks for everyone,_  
Sweet Executioner_


	11. Midnight chat

**Author's note:** Hello, guys! I totally forgot the third option: very, very short chapters (~ samples, drabbles, _dialogues_, whatever you want to call it) about the three months Izzy spends on the ship with Bones and the others. You know, I was watching "The Ultimate Computer" yesterday (again) and I just can't help myself, but write something. (Even if I should be studying for the law exam I'll write on Tuesday :) It's short, and full of dialogues, but that's all I have time for right now. I hope you don't mind.

(I'm off to sleep,)

_Sweet Executioner_

_

* * *

_

(9) **Midnight chat**

_

* * *

Four weeks later..._

The rest of the crew was already sleeping by midnight, and the mess hall was almost empty. There were only a couple of people, drinking three or four cups of strong coffee in a row just to stay awake until seven. Surprisingly Captain Kirk was one of them, sitting alone in a far away corner of the mess hall. He slowly took off his glasses and put them on the table, then rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He was tired but he couldn't sleep, and this little paradox drove him crazy.

In a certain medical officer's quarter Izzy was wide awake as well, burying her head deep into the pillow, as she was lying beside the chief medical officer with his hand around her waist. She had been sobbing quietly for about an hour because of the conversation she'd had with him. Everything was perfect between them, but she still couldn't fall asleep. Carefully, trying not to wake Bones up, she got out of bed, put on some clothes, and left the room, heading towards the mess hall.

The halls were empty, like she was on a ghost ship, but everything changed when she entered the dining area and saw the crew members. She nodded as a greeting then went to get some tea for herself. "Hey, Izzy. Why aren't you sleeping?" James asked from his table with a small smile playing on his lips.

Izzy was chewing her bottom lip while walking over to him. "Why aren't _you_ sleeping, James?" she asked.

The captain's smile grew a bit wider as he took a better look at her, and it soon faded when he noticed how red her eyes were. "Were you crying?"

"Yes, but it's not a big deal."

"If Bones did something to you, I'll-" he started, but Izzy quickly interrupted him.

"Bones has nothing to do with this," she explained. "At least not in the way you think he has."

Jim raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about. Only a couple of hours before she and Bones had had a romantic date somewhere on the ship, and now she was there with that sad expression on her face. He couldn't understand it. "Would you, please, explain it? I mean, I thought the two of you were sickly in love a few hours ago."

"I," she started, but trailed off. "I love him. I really, really do, but that's the problem."

"I don't see the problem here."

Izzy took a sip of her tea before answering. "About two months from now, I'll go back to Earth... and Bones will stay here, on the Enterprise, for another four, four and half years. Years, James, not days or weeks. I'm twenty-four, what means I'll be twenty-eight when he comes back. Call me pathetic or naïve, but I want a family before I turn thirty," she said.

"You will still have two years before that happens," he assured her.

"No, you don't get it. What if you guys go on another five years mission? What if I find someone else in that four years? You know, Winona told me about her and your father. That they were both working on the USS Kelvin. They were together. In love. And that's exactly what I was dreaming about until now. I'm nothing like her. I don't wanna spend years on a ship."

The captain extended his arm, pulling her closer. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Izzy, I think Bones loves you enough to stay on Earth with you."

"But I would know he would rather be here, on the Enterprise."

"You need to talk to him about it. Maybe he already knows what he would do."

She glanced up at him for a short second. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but you change your girlfriends like I change my clothes. It's so easy for you to say these things," she noted.

"Believe me, Izzy, it's not easy at all," he replied quietly, almost inaudibly. It wasn't easy at all. He, just like Izzy, wanted a normal relationship, a family. Somewhere, in the deepest part of his heart, this thought was already there. And he was kind of jealous whenever he saw them together - though this feeling wasn't noticeable yet.


	12. Long Years Gone

(10) **Long years gone**

'We should have listened to Spock and Dr. McCoy. Now Matthews is going to die, because Sulu just had to come up with the idea of eating fugu tonight,' Uhura blurted out as the small group entered the ER of Starfleet Medical.

Jim let out an irritated growl and turned to the communication officer. 'Uhura, calm down. Everything's going to be fine,' he said, glancing over at the woman for a second before fishing out his cell phone from his pocket. He'd been trying to reach Bones ever since they had left the restaurant, but the doctor hadn't responded yet.

'The captain is right,' Sulu spoke up. 'Doctors can remove the poison. Plus you're only stressing Matthews with this.'

Suddenly, they heard a loud squeal from the other end of the room that was immediately followed by a cheerful female voice. 'Oh my God, I thought Janice was kidding this morning, but you really are back a day earlier!' Izzy shouted as she ran over to them in her blue scrubs, and gave her step-brother a quick, but tight hug. 'Why didn't you call me?'

'We went to a Japanese restaurant to celebrate our return, and say goodbye to each other before going home for a while. So the thing is that we ordered fugu,' he stated as a short explanation for the situation. Izzy didn't respond, only raised an eyebrow. 'You know, just to eat something special, and it turned out the place isn't as good as we thought.'

The doctor stretched her arms and slowly nodded. 'I see. Who's the patient then?'

'Ensign Matthews,' Uhura replied quickly, while they all stepped aside, revealing the sick looking woman.

'Alright. Do you have numb legs?' she asked, taking a step towards her. The ensign nodded, so Izzy quickly reached out to stop a passing nurse. 'Janet, please call Dr. Keys from Neurology and tell him to get ready for a TTX removal procedure. Then make sure Ensign Matthews gets to the operating room.'

The nurse nodded. 'Got it, Dr. Krause,' she said before rushing to the nurses' station.

Izzy then turned to Chekov and Sulu, who were still helping the woman standing on her own feet. 'Guys, please help her over there,' she said, pointing at an empty bed at the other side of the room.

The small group walked away, leaving the two of them alone. Izzy looked up at the captain with a questioning look on her face. 'Where's Bones?' she asked quietly.

'That's a funny story,' Jim started, flashing a mischievous smile at her. 'When Sulu came up with the idea of fugu, Bones, for the very first time in his life, agreed with Spock that this is plain stupid, so after giving us an "if you would like to commit suicide just go ahead" speech, he left and went somewhere else.'

'Typical Bones,' the doctor said with a wave of her hand. 'Anyway, I have to go now, but I need blood sample from all of you, so we can make sure you're all okay. Stay here and I'll send someone.'

Jim nodded. After his step-sister disappeared from his sight, he joined the members of his crew and informed them about the blood sample thing. The ensign was a bit calmer than before, probably the fact they were at a hospital helped her a lot. Soon, the nurse came back, taking the woman with her.

Two hours later Chekov, Sulu and Uhura was long gone, and after a short conversation with Izzy, Jim found himself at the maternity ward. He hadn't believed her when she told him who was there, but when he got to the waiting room, he knew she wasn't lying. Admiral Pike himself was sitting on one of the plastic chairs, nervously rubbing his palms together. He looked worried and confused, like soon-to-be fathers usually did.

After clearing his throat, Jim spoke up with a friendly smile on his face. 'I thought Izzy was joking, but wow. You're going to be a father,' he said. 'Congratulations.'

'Jim,' the admiral greeted him with a faint smile. 'The Enterprise was supposed to be back tomorrow, wasn't it?'

'Yes, but what can I say? We were all homesick,' he replied, and sat next to him. 'How are you?'

Pike let out a dry laugh as he rubbed his temple. 'I'm confused, I'm panicking, and I'm also worried, because she doesn't want me to be there with her.' The young captain questioningly raised an eyebrow beside him. 'I think I've been talking too much about how afraid I was from fainting in there.'

Jim had to bite his lower lip not to laugh out loud.

'That's not funny, Kirk. You will see what I'm talking about when you are about to become a father, trust me.'

'Is it a boy or a girl?'

The admiral shrugged. 'I don't know yet. She wanted it to be a surprise.'

Before Kirk had the chance to ask him who the woman was, he heard a loud, grumping voice getting closer to them. It was McCoy, he knew before he noticed his tired face and heard his usual smartass comment. 'I told you it's suicide, right? And what did you do? Went there and ate that thing. I hope you learned the lesson, Jim, because I'm a doctor, not a babysitter,' he said.

'Dr. McCoy, it's nice to see you again.' the admiral looked up at him. 'Good to see you haven't changed that much.'

'Admiral,' he nodded, finally noticing him as well. 'What are you doing here?'

'I think it's quite obvious, but that's it, I'll give getting in that room a try,' he said, standing up from the chair. 'It was nice to see you both again. Goodnight.'

Jim leaned back in his own chair, looking up at the doctor with a smirk. 'I was about to find out who's his girlfriend or wife when you arrived. Thanks, now I'll have to wait until someone tells me.'

'I can't believe it, Jim! That's your biggest problem now?' Bones asked in a surprised tone. 'Ensign Matthews almost died because of your stupidity. Where's Izzy? I heard she was the one who helped you.'

'I don't know. She said there was something she was supposed to do tonight, but she promised she would come back for me,' he replied, pulling out his phone from his pocket. 'No, she won't,' he corrected himself immediately. 'She wrote a message half an hour ago that she's tired and doesn't feel well. In this case: do you have any plans for tonight, Bones? We should go and have a drink somewhere.'

The doctor, while shaking his head, replied with a wave of his hand. 'See you tomorrow?'

'Yeah, sure,' Jim said. He had invited Bones to Iowa to meet his family and, even though he hadn't talked to him about that one, to spend some time with Izzy. 'We'll leave around noon, so don't be late.'

* * *

**A/N:** Hi! It's been a while, huh? The thing is I'll start my internship tomorrow, so I'm super excited, and I rewatched the movie last week, which means I came up with a couple of ideas. (And, of course, I found notes for this story on my netbook.) It's a short chapter, but I think I'll finish the story, writing relatively short ones in the future.

How did you like this one? Are you angry at me because of the long break?

Oh, by the way. I hope you don't mind that part with Pike. I wrote another chapter to my PikexOC story, and for some reason I wanted him to be happy here, too. The only question is: who should the mother of his child be? Denise or someone else?

_Sweet Executioner_


	13. Surprise, surprise

**Author's note:** After a really long time I'll finally go on with the story (at least that's the plan if you like it). Sure, _Star Trek Into Darkness_ pulled me back into the fandom with full force again. I have to admit, even if I rewrote the story, I don't like the result. But! From now on let's think about it as part 2 of Goodbye with some kind of a partial retcon. I have a feeling that for like the third time I'll rethink the first part of this fic and if I can come up with something better, I'll post it here and/or on AO3.

**Warning:** If you haven't seen _Star Trek Into Darkness_ yet and you don't want spoilers **DO NOT** read this chapter - not yet that is.

* * *

**(1) Surprise, surprise**

* * *

"You say James broke the Prime Directive just to save Spock?" Izzy asked incredulously as she glanced up at Bones. "Wow that's... everything but surprising," she added with a wide grin but the doctor didn't smile, instead he rolled his eyes at her reaction. "Come on, you know James. You guys are his second family and he doesn't believe in the every man for himself kind of crap."

While pouring himself another glass of the bourbon she had just given him, Bones thought about whether or not going on with this conversation. She didn't seem to understand how bad this little slip might turn out for her stepbrother. Sure, he was happy that he saved Spock but the consequences might be far more serious than just a little speech about the importance of rules.

Letting out a sigh, he walked over to her with the glass in his hand and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Jim's a stubborn bastard, I know that," Bones said calmly without the merest hint of malice in his voice. He felt Izzy's hands around his waist as she leaned her head against his chest. "Have I told you how much I missed you?" he asked with a smug smile as he looked down at her.

Izzy smiled back at him and shook her head. "Not yet. But anyway, they went to see Pike; I mean, that can't be that bad," she said, making Bones take a few steps back and finish his drink at once. "He almost likes him as if he was his own son."

"Can you just stop talking about that?" he snapped at her.

This wasn't why he came over to her, wasn't even near the real reason. Since she had left the Enterprise and returned to Earth he'd been thinking about her and their relationship, about the time they spent together. Jim was right; he loved her and that's why he wanted to get the most out of this unexpected vacation. But he also knew how important Jim was to her and hell, even he was nervous about the possible results of his actions.

Her eyes widened in surprise and despite her open mouth, no sound came to respond.

"I'm sorry, Izzy, I didn't mean to-"

"No," she interrupted him, "no, you're right."

Bones watched as she nervously licked her lips and the only thing he could think about was how they tasted. It wasn't only him not sleeping with anyone since she had returned to Earth, but also about the fact that she was, maybe unintentionally, teasing him ever since he stepped into the apartment. She gave him a questioning look. Probably he had been staring at her without saying a word for too long.

Clearing his throat he said, "Jim will be fine, don't worry about him." That was it. At this moment his brain shut down and he barely knew how to talk like a civilized human being anymore. All his thoughts had something to do with the woman standing in front of him, the things he wanted to do with her. This feeling was so primal and strong that after all he gave up fighting.

He walked over to her and, before she could say anything, grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Hopefully it would erase every other thought from her mind, bringing back the time when their only problem was parting for God knows how long, the desperation he felt when the day of her departure was only a few days away. And now he got her back and there was no way he would let her slip out of his hands in the next couple of days.

"Next time you want me to shut up," Izzy said when she pulled away for a second with a wide smile, "make me shut up."

_Finally_, he thought as she folded her arms behind his neck and pulled him closer. Bones put his hands on her hips, grabbing her firmly before she jumped a little to wrap her legs around him, not breaking the kiss even for a second. She tasted and smelled like peach; he loved it, he really did. His heart rate was steadily rising but suddenly jumped a little when he was sucking on her neck and she moaned loudly into his ear.

"Bedroom's right behind you," she breathed, her fingertips tracing the back of his neck.

Izzy was now only focusing on the two of them, on him, and Bones appreciated it more than anything. It had been a really long time since he was this happy with someone, feeling the scars his vicious ex-wife left behind slowly healing. Jim had told him she didn't want to be on the Enterprise for years and even though he hated that flying coffin he just couldn't imagine staying on Earth anymore. Even the fact it would be for her didn't help.

Bones carefully let go of her and let her feet touch the floor once again. He couldn't do this to her. How could he think about choosing the ship over the woman he loved? "I love you," he said out loud, looking down into her brown eyes.

"I love you, too," she replied, resting her palms on his chest. "Something's wrong, right?"

"Let's not talk about this now."

Before he could walk away, Izzy grabbed his wrist. "Bones, please," she said softly. "Whatever it is, it's bothering you. Tell me what's wrong."

He watched as she sat on the back of the couch, patiently waiting for him to start talking. "Like I said, I love you. But even if I do, I just... I just can't imagine staying here. Not for long." It was true. Apart from Izzy there was no one and nothing that could keep him here, only his daughter but his ex-wife disappeared with her. "Jim told me that you don't want to spend too much time on a ship and I can't expect you to come with us if we have to go."

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she asked seriously. "I mean, I should've talked to you about this back then just as Jim advised. But I didn't and I'm sorry for that. If you want me to-" She was cut off by the beeping sound of the device on the coffee table. Without even turning back to take a look at it, she went on, "If you want me to go with you, if you _really_ want it, I will."

"Izzy," he said quietly but she only shook her head.

"This is what I want. You," she said, pointing her index finger at him.

Bones let out a tired sigh as he walked over for the device and gave it to her. "Izzy, the message. It's important." When he had looked over her shoulder he saw the notification on the screen. _Message from Jim Kirk: I'm screwed. Call me when you can._ Yeah, it seemed pretty important. But Izzy didn't seem to care much because she shrugged and threw the device on the couch. "You should call him," he said seriously.

The corners of her lips curled into a mischievous smile. "You asked me not to talk about him," she said slowly, her voice low and seductive as she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close enough to make him stand between her legs. "And he won't die if I call him a bit later, that's why he wrote me to call him when I can."

"Call him."

"Fine, but I'll put him on speaker," she gave in with a sigh and leaned back to grab her phone. Her brown eyes were locked with his as they waited for Jim to finally answer. When it happened, she flashed a smirk at Bones. "What happened?"

"Can you meet me in the bar?" Jim asked hurriedly but when she hesitated, he went on, "Is Bones still there?"

"Yes, I'm here," he replied. "So what happened? You don't exactly sound calm."

"Spock wrote about what happened in his report. Can you believe it? I save his life and this is what I get," Jim told them angrily.

Bones let out a sigh and looked down at Izzy. "Calm down, James," she said kindly. "What did Pike say?"

"Oh, I got a nice long speech."

"It couldn't be that bad," Izzy said while she stood up and gently kissed the doctor.

Jim was talking, but Bones couldn't understand it because she was now running her lips along his jawline and her fingers were about to undo the button of his jeans. He put a finger below her chin and mouthed "_stop_" to her but she didn't obey and, as she slowly undid every single button of his shirt as well, her lips ran down his chest. He had to bit his lower lip to stop himself from moaning loudly and hoped Jim wouldn't notice any of this.

Then he heard the captain say, "So what do you think I should do?"

Izzy didn't stop so now it was his responsibility to find a way to finish this conversation as soon as possible. "Have a drink and try to sleep," he said, remembering him asking his stepsister to meet him in a bar. Just when he finished the sentence Izzy gently bit his left nipple and he couldn't help it. "Seriously, stop it," he whispered harshly.

"God, what are you two doing? Tell me you're not-"

"No."

Finally Izzy stopped and grabbed the phone she had put on top of the closest pillow. "James, you know I love you and all, but as far as I know you'll either going to pick up some girl tonight or spend the rest of the night in the bar. So how about me giving you a call later and meet you if you're still there?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, sure," he replied. "But don't do anything I wouldn't do." Once he finished, he ended the call.

"I hate when you're doing this," Bones stated with a smirk.

She gave him a confused look then ran her fingernails down his chest. "Liar," Izzy stated with a cheeky smile. "You _love _when I do this. So where were we exactly? On our way to my bedroom, right?" she asked and he could help but nodding before picking her up and heading towards the room.

* * *

**Author's note #2:** So what do you think? (The more reviews I get the faster I'll update.)

_Sweet Executioner_


	14. Born to die

**(2) Born to die**

* * *

Message from the hospital: _Urgent. All notified doctors are required to come in immediately._

Bones and Izzy received the message at the same time, their communicators beeping restlessly until they woke up and checked it. Izzy listened to Bones groaning tiredly beside her as he buried his face back into the pillow and sneaked a hand around her waist. He didn't seem to comprehend the message, only opened it to stop the damn thing from going on with that high pitched sound.

Letting out a sigh she put her own device on the nightstand and leaned down to him, placing a soft kiss on his face. "Bones, come on, wake up. We have to go," she whispered, her fingers gently running through his messy hair. "Baby, I know you're awake," she tried.

"I'm not," he mumbled without opening his eyes.

Izzy let out a long sigh as she pulled away her hand and stretched her arms above her head. "And you're the one calling James childish," she noted before fighting back a yawn.

"No, I'm just a hardworking grown man who needs enough sleep to function," Bones replied when he finally turned on his side, propped up on his elbow and looking up at her with a charming smile on his face. Obviously he wasn't even thinking about running back to work but she could understand it.

Still, this kind of mentality wasn't what she had learned from him during her time on board the Enterprise. Bones was incredibly dedicated when it came to being a doctor and helping people so she didn't want to give up so easily. "Please, it seems serious. And if you finally get your ass out of bed, I'll think of a way to make it up for you."

"I'll tell you what I want but now, kiss me; maybe that will wake me up."

"How about getting out of bed first then you can get that kiss?"

"Will you make me coffee before we leave?"

"Don't push your luck."

Bones laughed it off. "Yes, ma'am," he replied seriously. Izzy rolled her eyes and playfully pushed his head back into the pillow, but once again Bones only laughed as he sat back up and kissed her. "I love when you get all bossy. But fine, let's go."

* * *

Officers stood in separate little groups in front of the hospital's building with reporters all around and armed guards in front of the entrance. They stopped everyone, asking for their IDs and turning back those who weren't allowed to go in. Neither Bones nor Izzy knew what was happening and the madness was only getting worse inside as they headed towards the huge computer screen on the first floor to see where they were supposed to be. Halfway there Izzy told Bones that she would go to the nurses' station and look for Christine, leaving him behind.

Bones could barely concentrate and the only thing he wanted right away was a cup of strong coffee. But, according to the computer, they desperately needed all the available doctors to help out so he headed towards the closest elevator.

He was halfway there when Jim jogged up to him with a few minor cuts across his face that reminded the doctor of the situation and all the questions he had wanted to ask someone ever since he arrived. He opened his mouth but the young captain didn't let him speak, instead he dragged him to a quieter part of the hallway, making sure no one was around.

"Dammit, Jim, what's going on?" he asked angrily.

The captain looked around, anxiously running a hand through his short dirty blond hair before turning back to the doctor. "There was an emergency meeting and John Harrison attacked us," he replied quickly as if that explained everything.

But the doctor didn't understand it, mainly because of the last part that didn't make any sense to him. "Who?"

"It's a long story," came the answer, followed by a nonchalant shrug. "A terrorist who used to be an agent of Starfleet and he organized a bombing in London. Now he killed or wounded those who attended the meeting," he said but fell silent for a couple of seconds, "including Pike, who's now dead."

"Wait, Jim, are you telling me Pike died?"

"Yes, aren't you listening to me?!"

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to call down, Bones, because I can't! He almost killed every single one of us!"

Bones was worried, both as his friend and as a doctor, because Jim was becoming hysterical. _Probably it's nothing more but the shock_, he thought. "Okay, listen, we have to clean your wounds first then maybe I'll even give you a mild sedative."

"I don't need that," Jim stated quickly as he shook his head.

"I'm the doctor, Jim, so shut your mouth and do as I say," he told him firmly. "Now, come with me."

Jim bit his lower lip but followed his friend anyway. The more he resists the sooner Bones sedates him and since he didn't want it to happen following him was the only possible choice. They went to an empty examining room where Jim sat on the edge of the bed while Bones looked for a hypospray. His eyebrows were raised into an annoyed frown as he was searching through a drawer; well, he spent most of this time _pretending_ to be searching since he had immediately found what he was looking for.

He just couldn't believe what was going on. One minute Jim calls them from a bar, then they have to find out he almost died while attending an emergency meeting. "Why don't you just go back to the beginning, when you met Pike earlier today?" he asked, turning around and going back to the captain.

The younger man visibly tensed at the mention of Pike's name and he didn't even notice when Bones gave him some painkillers. "After what Spock wrote in his report they took the Enterprise from me," he started hoarsely. Bones crossed his arms as he was listening to him but Jim avoided his gaze the whole time. "Then Pike appeared in the bar to tell me they gave the ship to him and that he wanted me as his first officer. A few minutes later are communicators went off because of an emergency meeting so we went back to the headquarters."

At this point silence fell on the room and Bones used the break to bring over a chair and sit down. They all knew how important Pike was to him because a long time ago he changed his life forever, only by giving the troubled boy a nice little speech about Starfleet and his father. And, of course, this is how Jim ended up on that shuttle and how they became friends. The doctor glanced down at his communicator and sent a short message to Izzy before turning his attention back to his friend.

"The emergency was a bombing of a secret Section 31 installation in London that was prepared by John Harrison who used to be an agent of Starfleet," Jim said quietly. "He appeared and attacked us but I was able to destroy the ship. Too bad he somehow managed to escape."

"How could he escape?"

Jim shrugged. "I have no idea. I guess they are already checking the ships' wreck to see if they can find anything."

Bones let out a sigh as he stood up and started to clean Jim's wounds. They had been friends for years and he understood what he was going through but he still had no idea what to do. "They will find him, Jim," he said, mentally slapping himself for coming up with something stupid like this.

"If they don't, I will," he replied seriously, his bright blue eyes fixed on the doctor.

Before he could come up with another stupid comment or something rather rude about his plan, the door opened with a hiss and he couldn't help but letting out a sigh. Izzy ran up to the bed, pulling her stepbrother into a tight hug without warning and Bones watched as he put his arms around her and rested his head against her shoulder. He was supposed to be somewhere else anyway and Izzy could probably help him a lot more now.

"Did you give him anything?" she asked, turning back to Bones since Jim seemed strangely tired, obviously struggling to stay awake for much longer.

"Tranquilizer and a mild sedative," he replied.

Jim groaned into Izzy's shirt. "I told you I didn't want that."

"It's for your own good, Jim," Bones replied. "Can you take it from here?"

Izzy nodded in response and after Bones let the room she let go of Jim and sat next to him on the bed. "He only gave you that sedative because you need to sleep," she started quietly as she put and arm around his shoulder and pulling him closer. "I heard what happened to Admiral Pike. I'm sorry, James, I know how much you loved him."

"He was one of the very few people who actually had faith in me, Izzy, and now he's dead," he muttered.

"Remember when we were kids and my mom wanted to meet you and Winona? How broken I was on our way back from the hospital? During the next couple of days you were there, trying to cheer me up. Now I'm here so talk to me, James."

Jim yawned and closed his eyes. "I'll fall asleep."

"Good, because you need some rest."

"I'll catch him, Izzy," he said as he lay down on the bed. "I'll catch him and he'll pay for what he did."

* * *

**Author's note:** A short update while I'm studying for my exams. Thanks for the reviews, favs and alerts, I appreciate them. Also I'm working on the first part of the story but I have no idea how long it will take.

Anyway, what did you think of this chapter? Leave a review (they are always appreciated) and tell me.

_Sweet Executioner_


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